The UK government briefing paper "Trends in Excess Deaths and Covid-19 Vaccines."

Sweeping statements made on impenetrable data

This post has been updated with a correction to the table and republished - see

On 25 August, the ONS published on Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status, England: deaths occurring between 1 April 2021 and 31 May 2023 and an Excel datasheet.

Then, on 20 October, an Adjournment Debate on the Trends in Excess Deaths occurred. It was attended by Mr Bridgen MP, a handful of other parliamentarians and the Westminster cat called Mog. Ostensibly, the debate was about the role (if any) of Covid vaccines and excess deaths.

On 24 October, in response to the debate, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) released a document called "Trends in Excess Deaths and Covid-19 Vaccines".

We will spare you the safe and effective routine that seems to be the lot of any minister or public official and look at the data on which statements such as “There is no evidence linking excess deaths to the COVID-19 vaccine” are based. As a preliminary note, we should point out that vaccines should …