Freedom of Information request on deaths following COVID-19 vaccination (FOI 21/711)
Published 29 December 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-responses-from-the-mhra-week-commencing-19-july-2021/freedom-of-information-request-on-deaths-following-covid-19-vaccination-foi-21711
20th July 2021
FOI 21/711
Dear
Thank you for your email dated 23rd June 2021, where you asked:
“In the section of “weekly summary of yellow card reporting” titled “Events with a fatal outcome” you say “The majority of these reports were in elderly people or people with underlying illness.” What is your source for information related to underlying illness? Please provide the number of people who have died after covid 19 vaccinations who have underlying illness.”
Information relating to underlying illness and other past medical history is provided by reporters of suspected adverse reactions when they submit a Yellow Card. The MHRA follow up to obtain additional information where necessary.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide details of past medical history for individual cases. Because of the way this information is captured within our database, this would require manual extraction of the information from each individual case. Therefore, this information is exempt from release under Section 12 of the FOI Act. Section 12 of the FOI Act specifies that a public authority may refuse requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 24 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Please be reassured that any information provided regarding a patient’s past medical history or concurrent conditions is taken into account during the routine assessment of all cases that we receive.
I hope the information provided is helpful, but if you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of this response; and can be addressed to this email address.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines Division