Appendix A: Quality of data on vaccine uptake and sentiment
Updated 3 September 2021
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1. Overview of datasets
| Dataset | ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) | REACT-2 | Virus Watch | Understanding Society | UK-REACH | OpenSAFELY | NHS uptake data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report section | Vaccine sentiment | Vaccine sentiment | Vaccine sentiment | Vaccine sentiment | Vaccine sentiment | Vaccine uptake | Vaccine uptake |
| Type of data | Survey data | Survey data | Survey data | Survey data | Survey data | Administrative | Administrative |
| Area covered | England, Scotland and Wales | England | England and Wales | United Kingdom | United Kingdom | England | England |
| Ethnicity classification used | ONS 5+1 (2011) | Asian, Black, Mixed, White, Other | White British, White Irish, White Other, South Asian, Other Asian, Black, Mixed, Other | ONS 18+1 (2011) | ONS 18+1 (2011) | White, Mixed, Black, South Asian, Other, Unknown, and ONS 16+1 (2001). | ONS 16+1 (2001) |
| Sample sizes or counts | All: 16,360 Asian: 550 (3.4%) Black: 220 (1.3%) Mixed: 210 (1.3%) White: 15,240 (93.2%) Chinese or Other ethnic group: 120 (1.0%) |
All: 172,099 Asian: 5,626 (3.3%) Black: 1,342 (0.8%) Mixed: 2,066 (1.2%) White: 160,369 (93.2%) Other: 1,442 (0.8%) Prefer not to say: 1,254 (0.7%) |
All: 14,713 White British: 11,713 (79.6%) Other ethnic groups combined: 1,189 (8.0%) |
All: 11,968 (in wave 7) Asian: 667 (5.6%) Black: 210 (1.8%) Mixed: 176 (1.5%) White: 10,572 (88.3%) Other: 58 (0.5%) |
All people: 11,584 Asian: 2,189 (18.9%) Black: 471 (4.1%) Mixed: 471 (4.1%) White British: 6,907 (59.6%) White Other: 1,087 (9.4%) Other: 245 (2.1%) |
Sample for 13 May release: All: 1,075,922 South Asian: 24,675 (2.3%) Black: 8,323 (0.8%) Mixed: 2,709 (0.3%) White British: 931,049 (86.5%) White Other: 49,056 (4.6%) Other: 5,600 (0.5%) Unknown: 54,530 (5.1%) |
Vaccinations up to 16 May 2021 (first dose only): All: 30,435,887 Asian: 1,813,015 (6.0%) Black: 639,108 (2.1%) Mixed: 282,743 (0.9%) White British: 21,600,713 (71.0%) White Other: 1,892,826 (6.2%) Other: 568,346 (1.9%) |
| Ethnicity not known | Not reported | 0.7% | 12.3% | 2.4% | 1.8% | 2.6% to 12.1% | 12.0% |
| Confidence intervals | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (for vaccine hesitancy predictors) | N/A | N/A |
| Population denominators used | Sample denominators from the survey | Sample denominators from the survey | Sample denominators from the survey | Sample denominators from the survey | Sample denominators from the survey | Based on TPP GP records | The newly-released monthly announced vaccinations include uptake rates using population estimates drawn from the NIMS system. |
See the List of ethnic groups page on Ethnicity facts and figures for details about the ethnic categories used in the 2001 and 2011 Censuses
2. How the data is collected
2.1 ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)
OPN is an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey which has been carried out weekly since March 2020 to try and capture insight into how the pandemic is affecting life in England, Scotland and Wales. The sample size is currently approximately 4,000 to 4,500 people aged 16 and over per week.
Findings from the survey are published every 4 weeks. Data from the 4 weeks analysed by each publication are pooled in order to increase sample sizes and allow ONS to explore vaccine attitudes of different groups of the population.
Initially, respondents who had taken part in previous ONS household surveys (such as the Labour Force Survey and The Living Costs and Food Survey) were included in the sample frame for the OPN. From September 2020 onwards, the OPN sample has been drawn from respondents to the Labour Market Survey only.
Since October 2020, a temporary boosted sample of approximately 6,030 adults has been sampled each week to take part in the OPN (comprising of a boosted sample in England to provide estimates at local levels, with additional sample in Wales and Scotland).
Data collection is conducted by an online self-completion questionnaire. Telephone interviews are available if requested by a respondent.
In the latest reporting period (31 March to 25 April 2021) the pooled sample sizes were rounded to the nearest 10.
Read more: Coronavirus and vaccine hesitancy, Great Britain: 17 February to 14 March 2021, OPN methodology and data quality.
2.2 REACT-2
A cross-sectional community survey in England undertaken between 26 January and 8 February 2021 as the fifth round of the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-2 (REACT-2) programme. Each round of study includes a random, non-overlapping community sample from the adult population aged 18 years and older.
Participants completed questionnaires, including demographic details and clinical and COVID-19 vaccination histories, and self-administered a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) test to detect IgG against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
2.3 Virus Watch
This was an online survey of Virus Watch study participants in the community across England and Wales. Individuals could enrol in Virus Watch if all household members agreed to participate and at least one household member had access to the internet, an email address, and could read English.
All Virus Watch participants aged 16 years and over who responded to questions relating to COVID-19 vaccine intention in questionnaires between December 2020 and February 2021 were included in this analysis.
There were 14,713 participants who were asked ‘would you accept a COVID-19 vaccine if offered?’ in December 2020 and in February 2021.
Data for this analysis was collected as part of the Virus Watch study, a large, prospective, community cohort study of the transmission and burden of COVID-19 in England and Wales.
2.4 Understanding Society
The main Understanding Society study (otherwise known as the UK Household Longitudinal Study) is a longitudinal survey of the members of approximately 40,000 households in the UK, which in its current form has been run annually since 2009. Since April 2020, participants from this study have been invited on a regular basis to complete a short survey about the changing impact of the pandemic on their lives, the lives of their family members and on their wider communities.
There have been 8 waves of the survey up to April 2021. Each survey contains core content which is designed to track changes over time – for example, questions on mental health and whether participants currently have coronavirus symptoms. Each survey also contains variable content which has adapted across waves as the situation has developed – for example, questions about vaccine attitudes, which first became applicable for the November 2020 survey.
The survey can be completed online through a web module or through a telephone interview. The majority of participants complete the web survey.
Read more: Understanding Society COVID-19 study main webpage, Understanding Society main study user guide.
2.5 UK-REACH
UK-REACH encompasses 6 studies to understand the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Information here is from the baseline questionnaire of the UK-REACH prospective cohort study (administered online from 4 December 2020 with interim data downloaded 19 February 2021). The study took place in healthcare settings in all 4 nations of the UK with clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Data was collected from all healthcare workers or ancillary workers in a UK healthcare setting aged 16 or over, or those registered with one of 7 main healthcare regulatory bodies, who responded to an email invitation or who were directly recruited through participating healthcare trusts or open links advertised on social media or in newsletters.
There were 11,584 participants in the analysed interim cohort who completed the questionnaire and answered the question about their sex.
2.6 OpenSAFELY
OpenSAFELY is the secure analytics platform for electronic patient records built on behalf of NHS England to deliver urgent academic and operational research during the pandemic.
Regular weekly reports on COVID-19 vaccination coverage in England are produced on OpenSAFELY using data from 40% of general practices that use TPP electronic health record software.
Primary care records managed by the GP software provider TPP were accessed through OpenSAFELY-TPP, an open source data analytics platform created by the OpenSAFELY team on behalf of NHS England to address urgent COVID-19 research questions.
The dataset analysed is based on 23.4 million people currently registered with GP surgeries.
Ethnicity information for the analysis is primarily retrieved from GP records. Where missing in GP records, as of March 8 2021, it is then retrieved from hospital records if present.
Sample counts vary depending on the group being analysed. For illustration, in the 13 May 2021 release, there were 1,075,922 people aged 80 and over who had been vaccinated up to 5 May 2021. The ethnicity breakdown is shown in the table.
2.7 NHS uptake data
Gives information on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations provided by the NHS in England, both in total since vaccinations began and to the current eligible population.
All data presented in these statistics include vaccinations administered in hospital hubs, local vaccination service sites (for example, GP practices) and vaccination centres. This data is as reported from the National Immunisation Management Service (NIMS), which is the system of record for the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme in England.
The recorded data for ethnicity of vaccinated individuals is from the NIMS dataset and is derived from data extracted by NHS Digital as part of their GP extraction service (GPES), Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (GDPPR) and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) datasets.