Deaths within 28 days due to COVID-19 vaccine and deaths attributed to COVID-19 from January to April 2021

You asked

In addition, could you please break these numbers of deaths down for the months of January, February, March and - if the data is available by the time you respond - April, 2021?

Finally, could you also supply the deaths attributed to COVID-19 on the same criteria - i.e. the deceased having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 within 28 days of dying - for the same period? And, again, could you break these numbers down into the same months of 2021?

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis showing the number of deaths in England and Wales from any cause including COVID-19 within 28 days of the deceased having had the COVID-19 vaccine. However, we are currently developing our analytical plans with an intention to publish detailed vaccination statistics soon for England. Once we have finalised these plans a publication date will be announced on our Release Calendar.

In case it is of interest, the Medicine and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) produce statistics on deaths following receipt of the vaccine: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

COVID-19 deaths:

ONS data are different from the figures on COVID-19 deaths published on the government's COVID-19 dashboard which shows 'deaths within 28 days of a positive test'. You can read a blog by Professor John Newton of Public Health England about the complexities of counting COVID-19 deaths and the different methods used. Our data are based on the information on death certificates. Death certificates do not state when the deceased tested positive for COVID-19. Therefore, we do not hold the information you have requested.

The doctor or coroner certifying a death can record more than one health condition or event on the form. The medical certificate of cause of death has two parts, Part 1 contains the sequence of health conditions or events leading directly to death, while Part 2 can contain other health conditions that contributed to the death but were not part of the direct sequence. For statistical purposes one of the health conditions on the certificate is chosen as the 'underlying cause of death'. The underlying cause of death is defined as the health condition or event that started the train of events leading to death and is worked out according to rules from the World Health Organisation (WHO). COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death in around 92% of deaths where it was mentioned on the death certificate.

You can read in detail about the coding of causes of death and identifying the underlying cause in the ONS User guide to mortality statistics and the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) instruction manual.

Data is available weekly within our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales publication.

Deaths involving and due to COVID-19, England and Wales, deaths registered in 2021. Week 1 begins on 2 January 2021, with the latest available data of week 15 ending on 16 April, 2021.