England to Stop Publishing Weekly Data by Vaccinated Status

A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy's Hospital in London, UK, on Dec. 8, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Last week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced that it was no longer publishing data on COVID-19 cases by vaccination status.

The UKHSA, a government agency responsible since April 2021 for public health protection and infectious disease capability, said that this was down to changes in testing policies.

“From 1 April 2022, the UK Government will no longer provide free universal COVID-19 testing for the general public in England, as set out in the plan for living with COVID-19. Such changes in testing policies affect the ability to robustly monitor COVID-19 cases by vaccination status, therefore, from the week 14 report onwards this section of the report will no longer be published,” the UKHSA wrote (pdf).

“Updates to vaccine effectiveness data will continue to be published elsewhere in this report,” it added.

‘Pushed Above Everything Else’

In February Public Health Scotland announced that it was going to hide its public weekly data on COVID-19 cases over “inappropriate use and misinterpretation of the data.”

“Due to the increasing risk of misinterpretation from growing complexities as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year,” PHS wrote in a statement. “PHS has taken the decision to no longer report COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations, and deaths by vaccination status on a weekly basis.”

At the time, world-leading mathematician Prof. Norman Fenton told The Epoch Times that In Scotland, “they don’t want people finding out that the vaccines are much less effective as has been claimed. I am not suggesting there is some grand scheme or conspiracy around it, but it does fit into a narrative that the vaccines were pushed above everything else.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the UKHSA for comment.

‘Unhelpful’

The former Head of Health Analysis and Labour Market Analysis at the Office Of National Statistics Jamie Jenkins told The Epoch Times by email that he stopped looking at the report back in January.

Analyst Jenkins has 70,000 followers on Twitter and has appeared on Talk Radio and GB News to discuss and often call out inaccuracies and mistakes in COVID-19 statistics.

“Since Omicron hit the UK the data on people who have tested positive has become rather pointless, given how many have had the virus. Most of the people in hospital are in with COVID but not being actively treated for the virus. So understanding the vaccination status without knowing the reason for admission is again unhelpful,” said Jenkins.

Return to Normality

The department in April published new guidance to support the next stage of the government’s “Living with COVID-19” plan. The focus of this new phase is on “protecting those who are most at risk from the virus.”

This is due to its “vaccination program, access to antivirals, alongside natural immunity, and increased scientific and public understanding about how to manage risk, the population now has much stronger protection against COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic,” the guidance said.

Despite setting out the strategy, there has already been quite a significant return to normality in England.

There are no mandatory vaccination schemes existing anymore in the UK for the general public as its ‘No jab no job’ policy, which was imposed on care homes in November 2021, was scrapped in mid-March. It is no longer a criminal offence to refuse to wear a mask, and children under the age of 11 never have to legally wear a face covering.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced significant pushback from his own MPs over COVID-19 measures. In December, when Johnson wanted to impose COVID-19 restrictions in England due to Omicron, he faced a rebellion from 96 Conservative MPs who voted against COVID passports, which would see certain venues ask for proof of a negative test or double vaccination before allowing entry.  The vote was passed thanks to support from the opposition party Labour who supported the mandate.

Ahead of the vote, Conservative MP Sir Desmond Swayne accused his own government of running a “Ministry of Fear” during the pandemic. “They have abandoned in doing that any principle of social democracy, of liberal democracy, absolutely beyond anything we’ve endured in recent living memory in the history of this pandemic,” he said.

The Coronavirus Act 2020, which gave the Government powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, expired on March 25.