Request

‘Specifically, 1. how many people have claimed a COVID-19 vaccine payment? 2. How many people have actually received a COVID-19 vaccine payment? 3. Can the total number of those payments be sorted/classified by death, disability and disease? If so, what is the number of claimants/payments for each category? 4. How much has the British government spent in total in payments under this scheme related to COVID vaccines? 5. Can the amount of spending by the UK government be classified by death, disability and disease? If so, what is the amount of spending for each category?’

Response

All questions are answered as of 21 July 2022:

Question 1

2,197 claims have been submitted in relation to COVID-19 vaccination.

Question 2

Seven claimants have received a payment in respect of COVID -19 vaccination.

Question 4

£840,000 has been paid in total to the seven claimants who received an award in respect of COVID -19 vaccination.

Question 3 and 5

Number of Deaths

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the exact number or value of awards relating to deceased patients, as the number is fewer than 5. This is because the claimants could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available, such as media coverage about vaccine damage claims.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose claimant personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress. b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the claimant.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Breach of Patient confidentiality

Please note that the identification of claimants is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A claimant who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA or yourself for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41

Breakdown by disability or disease

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.

We do not currently routinely record or categorise data about the disablement or disabling condition of each claimant.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2022” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.