Covid-19 Vaccines. Have any actually been purchased yet (i.e. not an agreement to)?
Mr M P Ross made this Official Information request to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
The request was partially successful.
From: Mr M P Ross
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
On the 17th December 2020 it was announced by Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern that four pre-purchase agreements had been secured for Covid-19 vaccines;
- 750,000 courses from Pfizer/BioNTech;
- 5 million courses from Janssen;
- 3.8 million courses from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and
- 5.36 million courses from Novavax.
1) Have any of these above actually been purchased (paid for) as of 26/01/2021, rather than just an agreement to buy them in the future?
2) Once purchased (if not already, with Medsafe Approval), what is the estimated date (or days since purchase) for the vaccines to be in NZ ready to be administered.
3) As BioCell Corporation in Papatoetoe has received $3 million to upgrade their facilities to manufacture commercial quantities of COVID-19 vaccines, Do any of the 4 pre-purchase agreements above New Zealand obtains the rights to manufacture the vaccine in New Zealand?
Yours faithfully,
Mr M P Ross
From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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From: Tom Turnbull [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[UNCLASSIFIED]
Tēnā koe Mr M P Ross
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 which
was received on 26 January 2021, copied below. A response will be provided
in accordance with the OIA. Please see the Office of the Ombudsman Website
for more details - [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/.
Please note that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
and its departmental agency, the National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA), are directly involved in the government response to COVID-19. Due
to this, our timelines to respond to your request may be impacted. Should
this occur, we will endeavour to keep you updated on the status of our
response to your request. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
DPMC may publish the response to your Official Information Act (OIA)
request.
When you are provided with a response to this request, you will be
informed about whether the response to your OIA request will be published.
If DPMC does publish the response to your OIA request, personal
information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.
This publication process does not apply to extension letters or transfers.
Ngā mihi
Tom Turnbull
Ministerial Advisor, Ministerial Services
Strategy, Governance and Engagement
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
[2]cid:image002.png@01D43609.296F69C0
-----Original Message-----
From: Mr M P Ross <[3][FOI #14532 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 26 January 2021 3:02 PM
To: Information [DPMC] <[4][DPMC request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Covid-19 Vaccines. Have any
actually been purchased yet (i.e. not an agreement to)?
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
On the 17th December 2020 it was announced by Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern that
four pre-purchase agreements had been secured for Covid-19 vaccines;
- 750,000 courses from Pfizer/BioNTech;
- 5 million courses from Janssen;
- 3.8 million courses from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and
- 5.36 million courses from Novavax.
1) Have any of these above actually been purchased (paid for) as of
26/01/2021, rather than just an agreement to buy them in the future?
2) Once purchased (if not already, with Medsafe Approval), what is the
estimated date (or days since purchase) for the vaccines to be in NZ ready
to be administered.
3) As BioCell Corporation in Papatoetoe has received $3 million to
upgrade their facilities to manufacture commercial quantities of COVID-19
vaccines, Do any of the 4 pre-purchase agreements above New Zealand
obtains the rights to manufacture the vaccine in New Zealand?
Yours faithfully,
Mr M P Ross
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From: Information [DPMC]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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Transfer Letter to Requestor Purchase of COVID 19 vaccines M P Ross.pdf
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[UNCLASSIFIED]
Kia ora koe,
Please see the attached letter regarding your recent OIA request.
Ngā mihi,
Ministerial Coordinator
Ministerial and Business Services
Strategy, Governance and Engagement
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
E [1][DPMC request email]
[2]cid:image002.png@01D43609.296F69C0
The information contained in this email message is for the attention of
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are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, copy or distribute
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in error, please destroy the email and notify the sender immediately.
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From: Ministerial Services
Ref: 2021-1384
Dear Mr Ross,
On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 26^th January 2021, transferred by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, requesting under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:
“On the 17th December 2020 it was announced by Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern that
four pre-purchase agreements had been secured for Covid-19 vaccines; -
750,000 courses from Pfizer/BioNTech;
- 5 million courses from Janssen;
- 3.8 million courses from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and
- 5.36 million courses from Novavax.
1) Have any of these above actually been purchased (paid for) as of
26/01/2021, rather than just an agreement to buy them in the future?
2) Once purchased (if not already, with Medsafe Approval), what is the
estimated date (or days since purchase) for the vaccines to be in NZ ready
to be administered.
3) As BioCell Corporation in Papatoetoe has received $3 million to upgrade
their facilities to manufacture commercial quantities of COVID-19
vaccines, Do any of the 4 pre-purchase agreements above New Zealand
obtains the rights to manufacture the vaccine in New Zealand?”
Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course.
If you have any enquiries regarding your request, or its urgency, feel
free to contact us via email at [1][email address].
Nâku noa, nâ
MINISTERIAL SERVICES
Corporate, Governance and Information
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140
NZBN 9429000106078
[2]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services
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From: Zachary Clarke
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2021 1384 Response Letter.pdf
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Kia ora Mr Ross,
Please see attached for our response to your Official Information Act
Request.
Ngā mihi,
Zachary
Zachary Clarke
Policy Advisor | COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy / International Science
Partnerships
Science, Innovation & International | Labour Science & Enterprise Group
[1][email address]
[2]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
Description: cid:image001.jpg@01CD1D45.D6A244C0
MINISTRY OF BUSINESS INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT / HIKINA WHAKATUTUKI
15 Stout Street , PO Box 1473, Wellington | [3]www.mbie.govt.nz | NZBN
9429000106078
[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D04B68.B4B83F00
[5]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services
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Mr M P Ross left an annotation ()
They failed to answer my question of when they actually ordered/bought the vaccine. The answer was that they had not yet.
They purchased it 2 days after my request on 29th January 2021, which was nearly two and a half months after being told we were 'at the front of the queue' worldwide for vaccine, by Covid Response Minister the Honourable Chris Hipkins.
Mr M P Ross left an annotation ()
My mistake, not ordered until 3 days after I asked. Guess they forgot.
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Mr M P Ross left an annotation ()
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) has passed this request onto MBIE to answer.
(I asked the DPMC because they have the business unit that coordinates the all-of-government response to COVID-19. This includes the government's operational coordination; data analytics, monitoring, reporting and insights; and public communications for COVID-19).
Link to this