You asked
How many people have died in Wales between 1 January - 31 December from an adverse drug reaction from the influenza vaccine please?
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.
All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) the coded mortality data available up to end of December 2019 is coded to version 2014 of the ICD10 framework. From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:
a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury
For deaths occurring as a consequence of a reaction to a viral vaccine, the underlying cause would be coded under 'Y590: Other and unspecified vaccines and biological substances'.
If someone died from anaphylaxis, which was a result of a viral vaccine, this death would be coded as 'Y590' (underlying cause), with an additional secondary cause code of 'T886: Anaphylactic shock due to adverse effect of correct drug or medicament properly administered'.
However, there is no code that exists specifically for influenza vaccinations. Therefore, we do not hold the exact information that you have requested.
Mortality data for 2020 has not yet been finalised. Once this has been finalised in the summer of 2021, the annual dataset for 2020 and bespoke analysis services will be available.
If you would like to discuss your query further, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.