Deaths and side-effects linked to the Covid-19 vaccine (FOI)

Request

A

How many deaths have occurred in Jersey after patients have had the Covid-19 vaccine administered?

B

How many deaths in Jersey have occurred following the vaccine - the main / sole reason being because of the Covid-19 vaccine?

C

How many people have had severe side effects from the vaccines / needed medical treatment after receiving?

Response

A

As at 15 April, there have been 282 deaths registered by the Superintendent Registrar as occurring between 13 December (the date the first vaccine was delivered in Jersey) and 31 March 2021.

Of these, 140 (rounded to nearest 10) people had had at least one dose of the vaccine. This is an estimate based on matching data extracted from EMIS for the purposes of administering the Vaccination Programme to the death registration data.

B

COVID-19 Vaccination status is not recorded on death certificates. To date there have been no deaths registered with any narrative referring to complications due to the COVID-19 vaccine.

C

No Cases recorded in Emergency Department where the presenting complaint mentions COVID vaccine.

Information on diagnoses made by GPs is recorded on a centralised system (EMIS). Whilst the Government of Jersey may be able to interrogate the EMIS system for information, this information is not routinely collated outside of 12 conditions recorded under the Jersey Quality Improvement Framework (JQIF).

The search functionality for EMIS is complex, and because the data is input by numerous different, private practices it is difficult to be confident of data standards, therefore search results can be misleading. That is why, with the exception of the JQIF datasets, the Government does not routinely compile or report on EMIS data. It should also be noted that the EMIS system is information held by the GPs rather than by the Government – whilst the Government can review this data it is not held by them for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Attendance at the Emergency Department would not record the presenting complaint as reaction to COVID but as “allergic reaction”. It would be the clinician reviewing the patient to decide if this was as a direct result of the vaccine. COVID is not a diagnosis entered in the discharge criteria, it would only appear in any free text entered by the discharging clinician and as such cannot be individually searched.

The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and other medicines regulators around the world, continue to monitor reported side effects of the vaccines as they would for any new medicine, and publish updated safety guidance on the use of the vaccines as necessary. The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collates reports of potential side-effects on a large scale, which enables cause and effect to be determined and avoids the likelihood of inappropriately attributing a side-effect to a vaccine based on a single report from one individual. Up to the 5 April more than 175,000 yellow card reports had been received by the MHRA. In Jersey, Healthcare Professionals and individuals have access to and can complete a “yellow card” for reactions to the vaccine via the following link. The Government of Jersey is working closely with the UK regulators to ensure that any changes required in practice as a result of scientific information related to the vaccine are implemented.

Coronavirus vaccine - weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK

This data is not held by Jersey for the purpose of Freedom of information as it is part of a UK data collection system.