29 July 2021
Anna Goodwin
Email: [FYI request #16210 email]
Tēnā koe Anna
Official Information Act request
The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) received your email request for official
information dated 27 July 2021. You request the following information under the Official
Information Act:
Health Minister Andrew Little announced today that your organization has appropriated $42
million NZD to fund 36 projects directed at addressing "misinformation" related to the Covid-
19 jab resulting in "vaccine hesitancy" by the NZ public. Please provide the following
information for the sake of the public interest and government transparency:
1. What is the definition of "Covid-19 misinformation" for the purposes of the allotment of
funding to address this problem? Are there uniform criteria being applied between and among
the 36 separate projects designed to end this problem?
2. What is the source of the $42 million NZD? If this has come from the NZ government
please provide proceedings and discuss any opportunities for public discourse related to the
appropriation of these funds.
3. The names of each of the 36 individual projects, titles, or organizations and the specific
amount of funding granted to each entity.
4. Procedures followed by the funded entities to obtain this funding, any public notice put forth
for the equal opportunity for organizations to apply for this funding, and the total number of
applications put forth for this specific funding.
5. Selection criteria employed for determining who would be granted funding by the HRC for
these projects.
6. Names of the individuals and any declarations of interest of those serving as decision
makers related to the allocation of the $42 million for these 36 individual projects.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than
24 August 2021, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable
to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
Ngā mihi
Signed by: Sunny Collings
Date & Time: 29 Jul, 2021 18:01:48 NZST
Professor Sunny Collings
Chief Executive
Level 3, ProCare Building, 110 Stanley Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
GPS: 50 Grafton Road, Grafton, Auckland
PO Box 5541, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
+64 9 3035200
www.hrc.govt.nz
