FOI REF: FOI-2023-1299
You asked
Could you please provide the following information: The number of people aged over 65 in England who had received a third dose of COVID-19 vaccination by September 2022 and then by December 2022. The number of people over 65 living in England according to your most recent population estimates by mid-year 2021 and by mid-year 2022 if you have that information.
We said
Thank you for your request.
COVID-19 vaccination rates
Unfortunately, we do not hold up analysis of all people who have received a COVID-19 vaccination.
NHS England publish weekly statistics of the total number of COVID-19 vaccinations provided by the NHS in England. These are published at Statistics » Vaccinations: COVID-19 (england.nhs.uk). Their Freedom of Information team can be contacted at england.contactus@nhs.net.
You may be interested in the analysis we publish showing deaths involving COVID-19 or all cause deaths after receipt of the COVID-19 vaccination, accessible via the following link: Deaths by vaccination status, England. This provides deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status that occurred between 1 April 2021 and 31 December 2022 in England. This data can be filtered in table 2, by year and vaccination status for information on third doses, by age group, between September 2022 and December 2022.
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.
Population estimates in England
Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, mid-year 2021 population estimates by age group are available in the MYE1 table. We are currently producing the mid-year 2022 population estimates but have not yet been finalised. These are expected to be published late autumn, publishing dates will be announced on the ONS Release Calendar.
As such, the information you have requested is exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future.
As a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration, and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.
If you would like to discuss this query further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.