FOI ref:FOI/2022/4659
You asked
You are publishing some data about the "Deaths by vaccination status, England" on your page: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsbyvaccinationstatusengland
However, the dataset is partly aggregated and I would like to obtain a more detailed view of it. I would like to have a detailed dataset of deaths in England of all causes following (or not) a 1st, 2nd etc. dose of a covid vaccine, with specifically the following elements:
- Month of death in the year (aggregation by month is good enough for me)
- Age upon death in single year terms (as opposed to age range terms, like 10-14, 15-19, 20-24 etc.)
- Sex
- Covid vaccine status (none, 1st, 2nd etc.)
Exact number of days from 1st, 2nd etc. covid dose to death, if applicable (as opposed to delay range, like 0-20 days, 21 days-6 months)
We said
Thank you for your request for a more detailed view of Deaths by vaccination status.
Month of death and COVID-19 vaccination status are included in table 2 of our latest Deaths by vaccination status, England dataset.
In order to produce the dataset with the current view of monthly breakdowns, we had to publish with wider age bands due to disclosure of vaccination status for younger ages.
In some of the age bands for all causes by vaccination status the figures are already small. If we were to disaggregate further, including sex, single year of age, and the exact number of days from COVID dose to death, the information would be identifiable and the release of this would breach our disclosure control policy: Policy on protecting confidentiality in tables of birth and death statistics.
Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it a criminal offence for the Statistics Board (ONS) to release information that would identify an individual collected for statistical purposes. This includes those who are deceased. As disclosure is prohibited by another enactment, this information is exempt from release under Section 44(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
You do have the option to apply to become an accredited researcher for our Secure Research Service (SRS), which will allow you to conduct your own analysis on the data that we hold. Instructions for applying to this service, and the terms and condition for its access and use, can be found via the following link: Research Project Accreditation. More information and advice as to whether the ONS Approved Researcher scheme is suitable for your research is available by contacting srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk.
Our Health and Pandemic Insights customer services team also offer a service for the creation of bespoke datasets, which may be able to produce something similar for you. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request a bespoke dataset, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further.
If you would like to discuss your request further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.