You asked
Can you please send me data on the number of people hospitalised (even if only for a single night) in England between Dec 9 2020 and May 30 2021*) for any illness or injury within 60 days of taking any one of the COVID 19 vaccines, first or second dose.
Please include cases of breakthrough COVID within 28 days of their vaccination date. Ideally, the data would include details of age groups, but if not possible, numbers will be fine.
*Or up to the latest data available if prior to May 30 2021.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccine
Unfortunately, we do not hold information on illness or injury caused by the COVID-19 vaccination. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) would be better placed to assist.
Hospitalisations
ONS are responsible for the production of mortality statistics for England and Wales. Unfortunately, we do not have access to hospital admissions and discharges. Therefore, we do not hold the data you have requested.
This data is held by NHS Digital, so they may be better placed to answer your query. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, and by telephone at 0300 303 5678.
Vaccine effectiveness
This information requires complex analysis linking vaccination records to death registrations. We are working on analysis on all aspects of the relationship between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality, which will be published in July/August. Once we have finalised these plans a publication date will be announced on our Release Calendar.
As such, this information is considered 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. Furthermore, 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.
You can find figures published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) here.