133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
27 April 2021
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
John Jacobson
By email:
[FYI request #15162 email]
Ref:
H202104400
Dear John Jacobson
Partial transfer of your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health (the Ministry) on 13 April 2021 for:
“(a) the dates and titles of all advice or memos generated within the Ministry of Health
which are either solely about, or incorporate content relating to, the topic of how a person
might provide proof or certification of either having been vaccinated against Covid-19, or
otherwise having Covid-19 antibodies.
(b) copies of the advice or memos identified as within the scope of (a) above.
(c) copies of communications from the Ministry to each of the following about options for,
or work to progress, people being able to provide proof of their Covid-19 vaccination or
antibody status, sent between 1 August 2020 and 13 April 2021;
(i) the Minister or Associate Ministers of Health, or officials in their offices;
(ii) the Minister for Covid-19 Response, or officials in his office;
(iii) officials in the Covid-19 Group in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
(iv) officials in the Department of Internal Affairs
(v) officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(vi) officials in the Ministry of Justice.
(d) any contract the Ministry holds with a software company which includes work to
develop a smartphone app to record and display someone's proof or certification of their
Covid-19 vaccination status, and a the statement of work required from that company in
relation to that work.
(e) the project plan (or other documentation giving an overview of the work) of any work to
develop a smartphone app to record and display someone's proof or certification of their
Covid-19 vaccination status.
(f) the number of people working for, or contracted to, the Ministry of Health that are
working on methods for people to provide proof or certification of their Covid-19
vaccination status, both in absolute numbers and Full-Time Equivalents.”
I have been advised that information pertaining to the first three parts of your request is also
held by the Ministry of Transport (Transport). For this reason, I have decided to partially transfer
these parts of your request to Transport under section 14 of the Act. You can expect a response
from Transport in due course.
Please note, the Ministry of Health is currently reviewing the previous response to your request
on 7 May 2021 and will provide a revised response in due course. Please note, this will also
include a response to the parts being partially transferred to Transport.
Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made on your request.
Yours sincerely
Nick Allan
Manager OIA Services
Office of the Director-General
Page 2 of 4
Copy of OIA request
From: John Jacobson <[FYI request #15162 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2021 3:19:35 AM
To: OIA Requests
Subject: Official Information request - Certification of Covid status
Dear Ministry of Health,
This is an OIA request for information about work the Ministry may have been doing around the
topic of certifying or proving someone's Covid-19 status.
Please provide the following information.
(a) the dates and titles of all advice or memos generated within the Ministry of Health which are
either solely about, or incorporate content relating to, the topic of how a person might provide
proof or certification of either having been vaccinated against Covid-19, or otherwise having
Covid-19 antibodies.
(b) copies of the advice or memos identified as within the scope of (a) above.
(c) copies of communications from the Ministry to each of the following about options for, or
work to progress, people being able to provide proof of their Covid-19 vaccination or antibody
status, sent between 1 August 2020 and 13 April 2021;
(i) the Minister or Associate Ministers of Health, or officials in their offices;
(ii) the Minister for Covid-19 Response, or officials in his office;
(iii) officials in the Covid-19 Group in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
(iv) officials in the Department of Internal Affairs
(v) officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(vi) officials in the Ministry of Justice.
(d) any contract the Ministry holds with a software company which includes work to develop a
smartphone app to record and display someone's proof or certification of their Covid-19
vaccination status, and a the statement of work required from that company in relation to that
work.
(e) the project plan (or other documentation giving an overview of the work) of any work to
develop a smartphone app to record and display someone's proof or certification of their Covid-
19 vaccination status.
(f) the number of people working for, or contracted to, the Ministry of Health that are working on
methods for people to provide proof or certification of their Covid-19 vaccination status, both in
absolute numbers and Full-Time Equivalents.
If you need to clarify this request, or feel the need to discuss its scope with me, I can be
contacted via the email address you received this request from. If any of this information is
already publicly available, and published online please provide a link to the specific information.
For the purposes of s. 12 of the OIA, I am a New Zealand citizen living in New Zealand.
Yours faithfully,
John Jacobson
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