FOI Ref: FOI/2023/4772

You asked

Please coud I request:​

All cause mortality rates between people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 compared with people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 for the full calendar year of 2022 only.

Could you also provide me with the total number of people dying of all causes who were vaccinated against COVID-19 for the calendar year 2020 and the total number of people dying of all causes who were not vaccinated against COVID-19 for the same period.

Finally, could you supply me with the estimates you have for what % of the population is not vaccinated against COVID-19 but is eligible to be. I.e have never received a single COVID-19 injection.

We said

Thank you for your request.

Deaths by vaccination status 2022

We hold the following analysis provides deaths and age standardised mortality rates for January 2021 to May 2022 on a monthly basis: Deaths by vaccination status, England - Office for National Statistics. This includes all cause, non-COVID-19 deaths and deaths involving COVID-19. Analysis including the period June to December 2022 will be published on 21February 2022.

As such, the remaining information for 2022 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.

Deaths by vaccination status 2020

We do not hold analysis relating to deaths by vaccination status for 2020. The first COVID-19 vaccination was administered on 8 December 2020. We did not include the last few weeks of December 2020 as so few people would have been vaccinated as the cohort was small and focused on those most at risk. In addition, our publication is for whole months.

However, the number of all cause deaths and COVID-19 deaths is available in the following publication without the inclusion of vaccination status, in case this is helpful: Deaths registered in England and Wales 2020.

Vaccination statistics

Our latest publication on vaccination rates can be accessed via the following link: Coronavirus and vaccination rates in people aged 18 years and over by socio-demographic characteristic and region, England: 8 December 2020 to 28 February 2022. The data are for England only, as vaccinations data for Wales is not held. This is the latest analysis we have available.

On our Coronavirus insights page we have linked data from United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA). They publish vaccination rates on their Coronavirus in the UK dashboard, which may also be of interest. This is accessible via the following link: Vaccinations in the UK | Coronavirus in the UK dashboard.

Further data on vaccinations for those under 50 years of age available from Statistics » COVID-19 vaccinations (england.nhs.uk).