Coronavirus and vaccination rates in people aged 18 to 64 years by occupation and industry, England: 28 February 2022

• As of 28 February 2022, 74.5% of adults aged 18 to 64 years who were employed had received three coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations and 7.2% were unvaccinated.
• The occupation groups that had the highest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were health professionals (84.7%) and teaching and other educational professionals (83.6%); these groups also had the lowest proportion of people who had not received a vaccine at 3.1% and 4.2% respectively.
• The occupation groups with the lowest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were elementary trades and related occupations (57.6%) and skilled construction and building trades (61.8%); these groups also had the highest proportion of people who had not received a vaccine at 15.1% and 12.7% respectively.
• Within occupation groups, there was large variation in vaccination coverage between occupations; for example, within the health professionals group, 93.3% of specialist medical practitioners had received three vaccinations, compared with 71.9% of therapy professionals not elsewhere classified.
• The industry sections with the highest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were public administration and defence; compulsory social security (81.9%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (81.0%).
• The industry sections with the lowest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were accommodation and food service activities (61.7%) and construction (66.2%).
• The differences in vaccination status between occupation groups and industry sections did not appear to be driven by differences in geography, socio-demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions, as the rankings largely remained unchanged after adjusting for these factors.

Vaccination rates are produced using the Office for National Statistics Public Health Data Asset, which covers only a subset of the population (see Measuring the data). Data may differ from weekly administrative vaccination data published by NHS England.

Combining data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Public Health Data Asset (PHDA) and information on occupation collected as part of Census 2021, we examine differences in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination coverage between occupations. See Measuring the data for further details.

Vaccination rates are estimated by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020 sub-major occupation groups and unit group occupations. These are referred to as occupation groups and occupations, respectively, in the remainder of this article.

Vaccination coverage varies substantially by occupation group (Figure 1). The proportion of people who had received three vaccinations was highest in health professionals (84.7%) and teaching and other educational professionals (83.6%). These groups also had the lowest proportion of people who had not received a vaccine at 3.1% and 4.2% respectively. The lowest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations was in elementary trades and related occupations (57.6%) and skilled construction and building trades (61.8%). These groups also had the highest proportion of people who had not received a vaccine at 15.1% and 12.7% respectively.

Vaccinations were offered according to priority groups set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). To account for some of these differences, we calculated age-standardised vaccinated proportions. Age-standardised proportions are used to allow comparisons between occupations that may contain different proportions of people of different ages. Using logistic regression, we further accounted for differences in geography (region and rural-urban area), socio-demographic characteristics (age group, sex, ethnic group, disability status, educational attainment and area deprivation) and underlying health conditions.

In general, the differences in vaccination status between occupation groups do not appear to be driven by differences in geography, socio-demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions. The ranking largely remained unchanged after adjusting for these factors (See dataset Tables 4 and 5).

Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination coverage varied considerably within occupation groups. For instance, there are substantial differences in vaccination coverage within the health professionals and health and social care associate professionals groups. Among these groups, the occupations that had the highest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were specialist medical practitioners (93.3%) and speech and language therapists (92.0%) respectively. The occupations that had the lowest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were early education and childcare practitioners (63.0%) and complementary health associate professionals (64.4%).

Combining data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Public Health Data Asset (PHDA) and information on employment collected as part of Census 2021, we can also examine differences in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination coverage between industry section (see Measuring the data).

Vaccination coverage varied less by industry section when compared with occupation group. The proportion of people who had received three vaccinations was highest in the public administration and defence; compulsory social security (81.9%) and professional, scientific and technical activities (81.0%) industry sections. The industry sections with the lowest proportion of people who had received three vaccinations were accommodation and food service activities (61.7%) and construction (66.2%). The ranking of vaccination coverage by industry section remained largely similar once adjusted for geography, socio-demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions (see dataset Tables 6 and 7).

Standard Occupational Classification

The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is a common classification of occupational information, in which jobs are classified by their skill level and content. SOC 2020 is the current classification.

Standard Industrial Classification

The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) is used to classify businesses by the type of economic activity they are engaged in. SIC 2007 is the current classification.

Under strict security protocol, we linked vaccination data from the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Public Health Data Asset (PHDA) and a de-identified extract of Census 2021.

The ONS PHDA is a unique linked dataset combining the 2011 Census, the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) data for pandemic planning and research, and the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). We retrieved NHS numbers for 94.6% of 2011 Census participants, using the 2011 to 2013 NHS Patient Registers. All subsequent linkages were based on NHS numbers.

In addition, we updated the information on occupation and industry in the PHDA by using an extract from Census 2021, with all personal information removed to protect security and confidentiality. We retrieved NHS numbers for 82.1% of Census 2021 participants, using the Personal Demographics Service (PDS).

The study population consisted of people who were:

• aged 18 to 64 years
• alive on 28 February 2022 and resident in England
• registered with a general practitioner (GP) in 2019
• enumerated at the 2011 Census and Census 2021
• working and reported employment information

Our dataset contains 15,546,650 people, which amounts to 60.1% of the population of people employed, based on estimates from the Annual Population Survey. The dataset used in this study is not fully representative of the population living in England. People who did not take part in the 2011 Census and Census 2021, such as recent migrants, are not included in these calculations. In addition, some people enumerated at the 2011 Census and Census 2021 are not included, because no NHS number could be obtained for them.

These data only include third coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations that were received from 16 September 2021 onwards. Third vaccination may refer to a booster vaccination or a third dose vaccination received as part of the primary course.

Occupation and industry section were derived from an extract of Census 2021. Occupation was classified according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020. We have used SOC 2020 sub-major occupation groups and unit group occupations, referred to as occupation groups and occupations, respectively, throughout this release. Industry section was classified according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007. Occupation and industry section were recorded on 21 March 2021, and information for some individuals may have changed since then.

The NIMS data covered the period 8 December 2020 to 28 February 2022. However, there may be an additional lag in data reporting, therefore it is possible we have not captured all vaccinations that were received by 28 February 2022.

The age-standardised proportions presented are annualised directly age-standardised rates per 100 people, represented as a percentage. This is the number of people who have received a vaccination divided by the population for the relevant time period, standardised to the European Standard Population, multiplied by 100.