The COVID-19 pandemic led to monumental public curiosity in statistics, with sudden and pressing want to trace the virus nearly in actual time. While this was an enormous problem for our statisticians, it led to actual innovation in the best way we handle and current information and statistics.  

UKHSA’s COVID-19 dashboard has been an enormous success in presenting every day updates on the newest scenario in relation to infections and vaccinations, and it continues to be a vital useful resource. 

Why do we have to make adjustments?

Our job as statisticians is to offer essentially the most helpful and related info for the present scenario. Now that we’ve moved to living with COVID, we have to overview our reporting of COVID-19 statistics to make sure that we’re wanting on the proper metrics for our lives in the present day. This has meant making adjustments to how we current information within the COVID-19 dashboard and COVID-19 surveillance statistics, and these adjustments are summarised beneath.  

Completely different measures of vaccine uptake 

UKHSA is presently reporting two completely different measures of vaccine uptake. They measure various things and shouldn’t be used interchangeably:

Administrative uptake is an operational measure that reviews the whole variety of 1st, 2nd and third doses delivered throughout the complete COVID-19 vaccination programme, as a proportion of the eligible inhabitants. The ONS mid-2020 population estimate is used as a measure of the eligible inhabitants.  

This metric was helpful firstly of the mass vaccine roll-out as a means of measuring success in delivering vaccines. It will also be calculated for all 4 nations of the UK and so permits some comparisons. Nevertheless, it has develop into much less helpful over time: it doesn’t change a lot week-to-week and it focuses on the unique vaccine programme which is now largely up to now. 

Protection is a way more helpful means of vaccine uptake now that COVID-19 and the related vaccine programme have develop into embedded in our lifestyle. This metric reviews the quantity of people that have been vaccinated as a proportion of the whole present registered inhabitants. Crucially, for protection, each the quantity vaccinated and the scale of the inhabitants eligible for vaccination come from NIMS (Nationwide Immunisation Administration System), a stay system that features everybody registered with the NHS.

Protection is the statistic we use in England for reporting on vaccine uptake across all vaccine programmes. It isn’t doable to calculate this measure throughout all 4 nations that make up the UK as a result of not all nations have a stay register comparable to NIMS. 

The WHO guidance on COVID-19 vaccination monitoring advocates utilizing each uptake and protection measures however acknowledges that administrative uptake turns into much less helpful over time. Switching our focus to protection permits correct monitoring in keeping with the WHO steering. 

You possibly can learn extra concerning the completely different measures here or within the metrics section of the COVID-19 dashboard. 

What adjustments have we made?

We’re making some adjustments to the look of the COVID-19 dashboard and the national flu and COVID-19 surveillance statistics to concentrate on the vaccine protection measures. On condition that immunity wanes over time, we have now additionally taken this chance to concentrate on the autumn booster marketing campaign, as these are most related to understanding the present scenario round COVID-19 vaccination. 

If you open the COVID-19 dashboard from in the present day, the very first thing you will note is protection statistics for the autumn booster marketing campaign. Equally, from Thursday 1 December the related part of the weekly COVID-19 surveillance report will likely be targeted on the autumn booster.  

These are essentially the most related and helpful statistics as we transfer from pandemic to dwelling with COVID. As future campaigns happen we anticipate making comparable adjustments in order that we’re all the time reporting essentially the most helpful and related statistics. 

The executive uptake statistics are nonetheless obtainable by way of the dashboard API and within the tables that complement the COVID-19 surveillance statistics.  

What subsequent? 

We’re engaged on additional developments to the COVID-19 dashboard and the COVID-19 surveillance statistics to make sure they continue to be related, helpful and according to greatest observe. We are going to preserve you posted as we progress. 

We welcome your suggestions on these adjustments, our COVID-19 statistics or our statistical merchandise extra usually. Please get in contact at coronavirus-tracker@ukhsa.gov.uk or UKHSA_HOPSTATS@ukhsa.gov.uk