FOI Ref: FOI/2022/4496
You asked
Re. Deaths shortly after a Coronavirus (COVID-19) booster or COVID-19 vaccination for the period between 1.1.21 to date.
I would like to request the data/statistics that show how many people have died shortly after a vaccine or booster, say within 48 hours of having one of the vaccines.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales. This is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration.
For deaths involving COVID-19 or all cause deaths after receipt of the COVID-19 vaccination, we hold the following analysis: Deaths by vaccination status, England. This contains deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status that occurred between 1 January and 31 May 2022 in England.
This publication includes weekly age standardised mortality rates for deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status and a detailed analysis of deaths involving COVID-19 which occurred in fully vaccinated individuals. This dataset was produced through complex linking of census data to vaccination data held by NHS. A breakdown by vaccination status for deaths involving COVID-19 is available in table 1. Mortality figures for non-COVID-19 deaths is available in table 2.
If you have any queries about this data, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis where individuals have died within 48 hours of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination specifically. This information would need to be created, involving the linkage of the NIMs dataset to ONS mortality data, followed by subsequent manipulation of the data and statistical judgement to identify deaths that occurred within 48 hours. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), public authorities are not obliged to create new information to respond to FOI requests. However, we hope the analysis provided in this response will assist with your request.
As these data were collected by NHS Digital, they may be better placed to assist with your request for deaths within 48 hour specifically. They can be contacted on enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or by telephone 0300 303 5678.