Victorian officials refuse to release vaccination status of virus deaths

Victorian health authorities have declared they will not report a key Covid detail, which NSW has released every day for months.

The Victorian health department has refused to release the vaccination status on the 25 coronavirus fatalities.

The spike in new deaths were reported on Thursday, which was the highest number of daily fatalities of the state’s current Delta outbreak.

When asked whether they were vaccinated, deputy chief health officer Ben Cowie said the data was available but “we’re not going to be reporting on that”.

Instead, he said 85 per cent of Victorians who tested positive to Covid-19 in the past seven days were not fully vaccinated.

“For hospitals, 69 per cent of people who ended up in hospital were unvaccinated completely compared with 98 per cent being eligible,” he said.

“For intensive care, 80 per cent were completely unvaccinated, no doses. So it’s very clear the impact of vaccination on serious illness and loss of life.”

Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Professor Ben Cowie, said the vaccination status of Covid deaths would not be released. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Sarah Matray

It’s not known why the health department has taken such a hard line on the detail, but Professor Cowie has previous cited the grief of relatives when asked about the figure.

NSW Health has reported the detail in their daily updates throughout their deadly Delta outbreak, with a fully vaccinated woman in her 90s and a man in his 70s with one dose passing away in the past 24 hours.

Among the new deaths reported in Victoria on Thursday were a man in his 40s, a man and a woman in their 50s, two men in their 60s, four men and two women in their 70s, six men and four women in their 80s and four women in their 90s.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has introduced new pandemic laws into parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Professor Cowie said all bar one had died in the past three days.

“It is very sad, and it’s a big number,” he said on Thursday.

“We’ve reflected previously that as we see the case numbers increase in the community that is to be followed 10 to 14 days later by people who have ended up in hospital and some of whom lose their lives. This is the consequence of those case numbers.

“It’s going to be a really difficult time for the family and friends of those 25 Victorians, and we pass our deepest condolences to the loved ones in these challenging times.”

It takes the number of fatalities in the outbreak to 270 and death toll since the start of the pandemic to 1090.

Victoria recorded 1923 new Covid cases on Thursday. At least 77 per cent of the population aged 16 and older is now fully vaccinated.