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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Does UK data show that fully vaccinated people are more likely to die of the COVID-19 Delta variant than unvaccinated people?

Saturday, July 3, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

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In the U.K., those who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 have not been more likely to die from the coronavirus’ Delta variant than unvaccinated people.

Between Feb. 1, 2021, and June 21, 2021, Public Health England found that fully vaccinated people in England comprised:

1.8% of 92,029 confirmed cases of the Delta variant.
10% of 3,460 associated hospitalizations.
43% of 117 deaths.

If the vaccine lacked effectiveness, infection and hospitalization rates would be equal among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Instead, the data shows that vaccinated individuals were much less likely to contract the virus and to be hospitalized.

Fewer serious cases translates to fewer deaths. On June 28, Cambridge University published an estimate that COVID-19 vaccines have already prevented 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths in the U.K.

By early June, 50% of U.K. adults were fully vaccinated.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

GOV.UK Public Health England: SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England

GOV.UK Vaccines highly effective against hospitalisation from Delta variant

BBC Misleading stat claims more vaccinated people die

Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit (University of Cambridge) Latest modelling suggests that COVID-19 vaccines have prevented 7.2m infections and 27,000 deaths

Sky News COVID-19: More than half of adults in UK have now had two coronavirus vaccine doses

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.