FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3394
You asked
Please supply a list of covid deaths and total deaths per capita, according to age and vaccination status each month by month in 2021 (i.e. unvaccinated / 1 jab / 2 jabs / 3 jabs)
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not publish counts of deaths by vaccination status for the population, as the number of deaths depends on the living population with each vaccination status. In order to provide meaningful statistics on deaths by vaccination status, mortality rates should be calculated, adjusted by age due to the age-based prioritisation of the vaccine and taking into account changes in vaccination status over time. We do not publish the mortality rates for the whole population, as the determination of the number of people alive by vaccination status is subject to error, particularly for the unvaccinated population. This is due to the need to use population estimates to calculate the living unvaccinated population or to use the populations in the National Immunisation Management Service dataset (NIMS), which overestimates the unvaccinated population.
Providing counts of deaths or mortality rates by vaccination status for the whole population would require a high level of statistical skill and judgement to create new information, including complex data linkage and analysis of the mortality and vaccinations data and, for the rates, linkage to the 2011 Census and GP register. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information to respond to requests. This information therefore is not held.
However, we have published age-standardised mortality rates by vaccination status for months from January to October 2021, broken down by age group, in our publication on 20 December. This is accessible via the following link: Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status, England.
These rates are calculated using the Public Health Data Asset, a linked dataset of people enumerated in the 2011 Census and registered with a GP in 2019 covering approximately 79% of the population in England aged 10+. This provides more accurate rates as the populations and counts of deaths are calculated from person-level data. The crude rates can also be calculated using the counts of the deaths and person years in the dataset provided, however, these are affected by the prioritisation by age of the vaccine, therefore the age profile of people in different vaccination status groups may differ, affecting the mortality rates. The population is calculated in person-years as this accounts for the changing vaccination status of people during the month. We will be publishing further updates to this dataset to include boosters and data for subsequent months.
In addition, the UK Health Security Agency publishes counts of COVID-19 deaths and mortality rates by vaccination status and age group for 4 week periods in their COVID-19 vaccine weekly surveillance reports. Here, vaccination status is defined relative to date of infection and the mortality rates are calculated using the populations in the NIMS dataset.