The latest
ONS data on deaths by vaccination status show that of the 5,678 Covid deaths in April and May, 93% or 5,276 were of vaccinated people. Given that the
Government's Coronavirus Dashboard reports that 93% of the over-12 population had a first dose of the vaccine, 87% had a second dose and 70% had a third dose,
these real-world data suggest that the vaccinated did no better than the unvaccinated in being protected against death.Breaking this down by age does not improve the outlook. In the 50-59 age cohort, in April 86% and in May 87% of the deaths were of vaccinated people, compared to 87% of the cohort vaccinated with at least one dose. In the 60-69 cohort, in April 88% and in May 91% of the deaths were of vaccinated people, compared to 91% of the cohort. In the 70-79 cohort, in April 94% and in May 90% of the deaths were of vaccinated people, compared to 92% of the cohort. In the 80-plus cohort, in April and May 94% of the deaths were of vaccinated people, compared to 94% of the cohort. Note that ONS's definition of a Covid death includes deaths where Covid is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, not necessarily as the underlying cause.
Many readers will be familiar with the ongoing debate about vaccination statistics and the size of the unvaccinated population. We know how many people have been vaccinated with the first, second, third and fourth doses of vaccine but we don't know what the population of the U.K. is so we can't know exactly what percentage of the population the vaccinated represent. However, we can have a pretty good guess. Figure 1 is taken from the
Covid dashboard and shows that just over 90% of the population had a first dose, just under 90% had a second dose and just under 70% had a third dose.
Comment: Another young athlete sadly passes away. What was once an extremely rare occurrence now seems to be happening all the more frequently. See also: