Public health and ethical considerations, re Covid-19 vaccinations
ASE made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Health should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: ASE
Dear Ministry of Health,
Given that SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 is prone to mutate, and given that leaky vaccines (such as current vaccines against SARS-Cov-2) are known to select for and promote vaccine restraint mutations/strains of viruses, and given that certain populations (eg young and healthy people) have very low risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, particularity the currently dominant B.1.617.2/Delta strain,
What public health and ethical considerations has The Ministry of Health evaluated in balancing (a) the wider promotion of a Covid-19/SARS-Cov-2 vaccine, which may be likely to produce more asymptomatic carriers and more vaccine resistant strains, against (b) limiting vaccine use for people who are at risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, due to age, obesity, or other well documented comorbidities which predict poor outcome from Covid-19?
eg, how has The Ministry of Health considered public health and ethical arguments against vaccinating people with very low risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, since both asymptomatic spread (exacerbated by vaccinated people not knowing they're contagious, and/or risk compensation of vaccinated people, among other factors) and vaccine resistant strains of SARS-Cov-2 may both likely be outcomes of wider promotion of Covid-19 vaccines, and lead to a worse public health outcome?
If The Ministry of Health has not evaluated this public health and ethical trade-off, then why were such public health and ethical considerations not accounted for?
Thank you for your time and attention,
A S Emet
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora,
Thank you for your request for official information received on 18
September 2021 for:
"Given that SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 is prone to mutate,
and given that leaky vaccines (such as current vaccines against
SARS-Cov-2) are known to select for and promote vaccine restraint
mutations/strains of viruses, and given that certain populations (eg young
and healthy people) have very low risk of poor outcome from Covid-19,
particularity the currently dominant B.1.617.2/Delta strain,
What public health and ethical considerations has The Ministry of Health
evaluated in balancing (a) the wider promotion of a Covid-19/SARS-Cov-2
vaccine, which may be likely to produce more asymptomatic carriers and
more vaccine resistant strains, against (b) limiting vaccine use for
people who are at risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, due to age, obesity,
or other well documented comorbidities which predict poor outcome from
Covid-19?
eg, how has The Ministry of Health considered public health and ethical
arguments against vaccinating people with very low risk of poor outcome
from Covid-19, since both asymptomatic spread (exacerbated by vaccinated
people not knowing they're contagious, and/or risk compensation of
vaccinated people, among other factors) and vaccine resistant strains of
SARS-Cov-2 may both likely be outcomes of wider promotion of Covid-19
vaccines, and lead to a worse public health outcome?
If The Ministry of Health has not evaluated this public health and ethical
trade-off, then why were such public health and ethical considerations not
accounted for?”
A secondary request for official information was received on 18 September
2021 for:
“What considerations has The Ministry of Health given to Covid-19
treatment protocols such as the FLCCC Alliance's MATH+, I-MASK+ and
I-RECOVER Protocols?
Considering the results of those FLCCC protocols, on what balance of
evidence are those protocols not being promoted as standard of care for
both the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 in New Zealand?”
The Ministry of Health has consolidated your requests and the reference
number for your request is: H202112576.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 15 October 2021, being
20 working days after the day your request was received.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. If
we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we will
notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
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From: ASE
Dear Ministry of Health,
Reference: H202112576
A substantive response to this request was due by 15 Oct 2021, and is now nearly a month overdue.
I am looking forward to a substantive response as soon as possible.
Thank you,
AS Emet
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora,
Thank you for your Official Information Act (the Act) request. This is
an automatic reply to let you know we received it.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. We
will endeavour to acknowledge your request as soon as possible. Further
information about COVID-19 can be found on our
website: [1]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
In accordance with the Act, we'll let you know our decision within no more
than 20 working days. If you'd like to calculate the timeframe, you can
use the Ombudsman's online calculator
here: [2]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
If you have any questions while we're processing your request, please let
us know via [3][email address]
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
[4]Ministry of Health information releases
[5]Unite against COVID-19
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5. https://covid19.govt.nz/
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From: OIA Requests
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Kia ora AS Emet,
Please find attached the response to your request that you were sent on 8
October 2021.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
[1]Ministry of Health information releases
[2]Unite against COVID-19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ASE <[FOI #16789 email]>
Sent: Friday, 12 November 2021 15:45
To: OIA Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Acknowledgement of your request for official information
(ref: H202112576)
Dear Ministry of Health,
Reference: H202112576
A substantive response to this request was due by 15 Oct 2021, and is now
nearly a month overdue.
I am looking forward to a substantive response as soon as possible.
Thank you,
AS Emet
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora,
Thank you for your request for official information received on 18
September 2021 for:
"Given that SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 is prone to
mutate,
and given that leaky vaccines (such as current vaccines against
SARS-Cov-2) are known to select for and promote vaccine restraint
mutations/strains of viruses, and given that certain populations (eg
young
and healthy people) have very low risk of poor outcome from Covid-19,
particularity the currently dominant B.1.617.2/Delta strain,
What public health and ethical considerations has The Ministry of Health
evaluated in balancing (a) the wider promotion of a Covid-19/SARS-Cov-2
vaccine, which may be likely to produce more asymptomatic carriers and
more vaccine resistant strains, against (b) limiting vaccine use for
people who are at risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, due to age,
obesity,
or other well documented comorbidities which predict poor outcome from
Covid-19?
eg, how has The Ministry of Health considered public health and ethical
arguments against vaccinating people with very low risk of poor outcome
from Covid-19, since both asymptomatic spread (exacerbated by vaccinated
people not knowing they're contagious, and/or risk compensation of
vaccinated people, among other factors) and vaccine resistant strains of
SARS-Cov-2 may both likely be outcomes of wider promotion of Covid-19
vaccines, and lead to a worse public health outcome?
If The Ministry of Health has not evaluated this public health and
ethical
trade-off, then why were such public health and ethical considerations
not
accounted for?”
A secondary request for official information was received on 18 September
2021 for:
“What considerations has The Ministry of Health given to Covid-19
treatment protocols such as the FLCCC Alliance's MATH+, I-MASK+ and
I-RECOVER Protocols?
Considering the results of those FLCCC protocols, on what balance of
evidence are those protocols not being promoted as standard of care for
both the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 in New Zealand?”
The Ministry of Health has consolidated your requests and the reference
number for your request is: H202112576.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 15 October 2021, being
20 working days after the day your request was received.
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic response, the Ministry is
experiencing
significantly higher volumes of queries and requests for information. If
we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we will
notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate
to
get in touch.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
References
Visible links
1. [3]mailto:[email address]
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[FOI #16789 email]
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****************************************************************************
Statement of confidentiality: This e-mail message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate,
distribute or copy this message or attachments.
If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender
immediately and delete this message.
****************************************************************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared
by the Ministry of Health's Content and Virus Filtering Gateway
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
3. mailto:[email
4. https://scanmail.trustwave.com/?c=15517&...
hide quoted sections
From: ASE
Dear Ministry of Health,
Thank you for that response.
Regarding the questions I asked,
Does this response from Ministry of Health mean that Ministry of Health has not considered or evaluated ethical considerations in balancing (a) the wider promotion of a Covid-19/SARS-Cov-2 vaccine, which may be likely to produce more asymptomatic carriers and more vaccine resistant strains, against (b) limiting vaccine use for people who are at risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, due to age, obesity, or other well documented comorbidities which predict poor outcome from Covid-19?
Does this response from Ministry of Health mean that Ministry of Health has not considered or evaluated public health and ethical arguments for and against vaccinating people with very low risk of poor outcome from Covid-19, since both asymptomatic spread (exacerbated by vaccinated people not knowing they're contagious, and/or risk compensation of vaccinated people, among other factors) and vaccine resistant strains of SARS-Cov-2 may both likely be outcomes of wider promotion of Covid-19 vaccines, and lead to a worse public health outcome?
Has Ministry of Health considered the absence of long-term safety data for these inoculations, as it relates to the above questions? Is so, how so? If not, why not?
If The Ministry of Health has not evaluated this public health and ethical trade-off, then why were such public health and ethical considerations not accounted for?
Thank you,
A S Emet
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