86751
  • Log in
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

ONS Slapped Down by UK Statistics Watchdog For Misleading Claim that Unvaccinated Have “32 Times” Risk of Covid Death

by Will Jones
26 November 2021 12:43 PM

Ed Humpherson, Director of U.K. Statistics Authority the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), has written to Emma Rourke, Director of Health Analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to criticise the agency for a report it put out in October claiming that: “Between January 2nd and September 24th 2021, the age-adjusted risk of deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) was 32 times greater in unvaccinated people than in fully vaccinated individuals.”

The age-adjusted risk of deaths involving #COVID19 was 32 times greater in unvaccinated people than in fully vaccinated individuals between 2 Jan and 24 Sept 2021 https://t.co/P6ZSC2OrxI pic.twitter.com/AMmkw6RpHZ

— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) November 1, 2021

As James Wells, a statistician who served as head of the ONS UK trade team until 2019, pointed out when he wrote to the OSR to complain about the report earlier this month, this statistic uses data from January 2nd to September 24th 2021, which includes the bulk of the winter deaths at a time when almost no one was vaccinated. This skews the implied vaccine effectiveness, as a fair comparison would only include periods when a significant proportion of the country was vaccinated.

See attached the letter I have sent to @UKStatsAuth & the National Statistician outlining the Code of Practice for Statistics breach by @ONS

I am genuinely disappointed, let us hope that the remedy restores my faith in @ONS https://t.co/gGZHSm79Dj pic.twitter.com/HfFbgVMd7M

— James (@JamesfWells) November 7, 2021

In Mr Humpherson’s letter to Ms Rourke he wrote:

The headline in the publication is the age adjusted risk of deaths involving COVID-19 for vaccinated and unvaccinated groups for the period January 2nd to September 24th. This was also the key message in the main tweet associated with the publication. Focusing on the headline figure has been unhelpful and has undermined the more helpful analysis provided later in the report. The headline figure is based on a time period driven by data availability. While the age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving COVID-19 are consistently lower for people who have received two vaccinations, the size of the difference varies enormously depending on the time frame chosen. The data cover a period when very few people had two doses of vaccination, to a period when the majority of the adult population had two doses (data taken from gov.uk on 24 November 2021 show second dose uptake for age 12 and over in England was 0.8% on January 10th 2021 and 77.4% by September 24th 2021). It also covers a period when case rates varied significantly as well as the levels of natural immunity in the population…

Given the analysis carried out, more should have been done to highlight the uncertainty associated with the headline figure… I would urge you to take the focus off the headline figure in any future publications.  

The truth is that statistics are being spun like this all the time by Government and others during the pandemic to bolster the preferred narrative. It’s just on this occasion the effort was so egregious and prominent that it couldn’t be ignored.

Tags: Fact checkMisinformationONSOSRVaccine efficacyVaccines

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

American Schools Forcing Students to Eat Outside in the Cold Due to Fear of Covid

Next Post

Victoria’s Mandatory Vaccination Law Comes into Force

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

42 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

 

DONATE

PODCAST

Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About the Fall of Russell Brand, the BBC’s Trans Rights Activism and Graham Linehan Topping the Bestseller List

by Will Jones
19 September 2023
5

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editors Picks

“You’d Have to Pay Me to Buy an Electric Car”

20 September 2023
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

21 September 2023
by Richard Eldred

Why Are UN Human Rights Advocates Obsessed With Legalising the Sex Trade?

20 September 2023
by Dr David McGrogan

Generation Z Can’t Work Alongside People with Different Views and Don’t have the Skills to Debate, says Channel 4 Boss – as She Blames the Lockdowns

21 September 2023
by Will Jones

The Post-Truth Anti-Bullshitters are Just Producing a More Sophisticated Type of Bullshit

20 September 2023
by Dr James Alexander

News Round-Up

51

“You’d Have to Pay Me to Buy an Electric Car”

29

Generation Z Can’t Work Alongside People with Different Views and Don’t have the Skills to Debate, says Channel 4 Boss – as She Blames the Lockdowns

23

Rishi Sunak to Ditch 2030 Ban on Petrol and Diesel Cars and Slow Phase-Out of Gas Boilers in Latest Net Zero Back-Down

63

Rumble Rejects MPs’ “Dangerous” Demand to Cave into Russell Brand “Cancel Culture Mob”

16

Spikes in Heart Deaths Among Japan’s Working-Age Men Support the ‘Hot Lot Hypothesis’ – That Some Covid Vaccine Batches Are Much Worse Than Others

21 September 2023
by Guy Gin

There’s Only One Way to Halt the Spread of Pernicious Trans Guidance: the ‘Public Sector Equality Duty’ Must Go

21 September 2023
by Caroline ffiske

Why Are UN Human Rights Advocates Obsessed With Legalising the Sex Trade?

20 September 2023
by Dr David McGrogan

Nigeria is in No Fit State to Look After Precious Artefacts

20 September 2023
by Mike Wells

Education is Much More Expensive Than We Are Prepared to Admit

20 September 2023
by Mark Ellse

POSTS BY DATE

November 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
« Oct   Dec »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Please note: To be able to comment on our articles you'll need to be a registered donor

Already have an account?
Please click here to login Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment