133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
18 March 2021
Virginia Crawford
By email:
[FYI request #14712 email]
Ref:
H2021001468
Dear Virginia Crawford
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) on 18 February
2021 for information relating to the COIVID-19 vaccine. You provided the fol owing background
information to your request:
“The FDA has stated the following:
Al descriptive printed matter, advertising, and promotional material relating to the use of
the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID‑
19 Vaccine clearly and conspicuously shall state that:
This product has not been approved or licensed by FDA, but has been authorized for
emergency use by FDA, under an EUA to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
for use in individuals 16 years of age and older; and
The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration
that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical
product under Section 564(b)(1) of the FD&C Act unless the declaration is terminated or
authorization revoked sooner.
www.fda.gov/media/144412/download
Could you please confirm that a similar protocol wil be instituted in New Zealand, i.e. that
all recipients of the vaccine wil be given a leaflet or other documentation to indicate that
this vaccine has been given temporary approval only in New Zealand and is not yet fully
licensed for use in this country.
This information is not held by Medsafe, which is a business unit of the Ministry of Health (the
Ministry). The information you are seeking would require Medsafe to form an opinion or create
information to answer your request. The Act does not support these types of request. Therefore,
this part of your request is refused under section 18(g) as the information requested is not held
by the Ministry and there are no grounds for believing it is held by another agency subject to the
Act.
However, legal information about this vaccine is publicly available at:
• The minutes of the Medicines Assessment Advisory Commit ee, established under the
Medicines Act 1981, that considered the application by Pfizer New Zealand Ltd:
www.medsafe.govt.nz/commit ees/maac/Recommendation109-2February2021.htm
• The New Zealand Gazette notice authorising the sale, supply and use of the vaccine:
https:/ gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2021-go338 [The Gazette is the of icial authoritative
journal of the New Zealand Government].
• The data sheet, required by the Medicines Regulations 1984, for health professionals:
www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/c/comirnatyinj.pdf
• Consumer information:
www.medsafe.govt.nz/Consumers/CMI/c/comirnaty.pdf
• Letter to Health Professionals:
www.medsafe.govt.nz/safety/DHCPLetters/ComirnatyFeb2021.pdf
www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/status-of-applications.asp
Further to the information above, I specifically draw your attention to the Consent Form and the
related
What to Expect pamphlet that have been prepared for people receiving the Pfizer
Comiranty vaccine. This information has been previously publicly released and is available at:
www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/information-
release/h202101370_12_march_2020_covid_vaccine_information_to_recipents.pdf
I trust this information fulfils your request. Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to
ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may
be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests
Yours sincerely
Nick Allan
Manager OIA Services
Office of the Director-General
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