Currently with the Ombudsman awaiting review.

Thanks Vanessa.

Populations have been sold out as evidenced by the available contracts shared globally.

MOH and whatever is directing its actions are exposing more eyes and ears daily through this single action.

The list of withheld data and informtion including blatant disinformation propagating via MOH and other agencies is exceedingly dangerous to the well-being of the all people.

MOH is well aware of its actions.

I have emailed the Ombudsman again (16/12/21, 26/01/22, 21/02/22) and I am now starting to wonder how 'independant' the Ombudsman actually is.

It is 8 weeks since I lodged my complaint, and the country continues to be decimated by Covid policy and legislation.

This is all I have to 'guess' what is in the contract,
https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/opinion/pfi...

Email received 24 March 2022
......
I am writing to update you regarding your official information complaint about the Ministry of Health (our reference 566886).

Further to your conversation with Richard Hazelwood of 24 February 2022, your complaint has now been transferred to the Investigation and Resolution team and is currently awaiting allocation to an Investigator, as capacity allows.

It will be allocated as soon as possible and, once allocated, the assigned Investigator will contact you directly.

In the interim, if you have any questions or the circumstances relating to your complaint change, please feel free to contact us via the email address info@ombudsman.parliament.nz.

Thank you for your continued patience as this matter progresses.

Ngā mihi nui
Joseph Hewson
Investigations Support Officer
Office of the Ombudsman | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata

From Ombudsmans Office, 21 July, 2022

Tēnā koe Vanessa,

Further to my email below, I am updating you to let you know that the Chief Ombudsman has now notified his investigation of a number of additional related complaints to the Ministry for the refusal of the same / similar information. Your complaint is one of these. As I indicated below, I was not sure at the time whether we would also ask for further information or comment from the Ministry, I can now let you know that we have decided to do so, which is why things are taking a little longer than I originally anticipated.

Essentially, we have asked the Ministry to comment on some additional public interest arguments raised by various requesters, that are relevant more perhaps to the fact that these requests are for the actual contract (or specific clauses), rather than just prices and delivery schedules. I am sorry that I can’t say a great deal more than this at present due to the fact that an Ombudsman conducts his investigation in private. We hope to hear back from the Ministry in August, and I will let you know when we do.

Meanwhile Vanessa, I just want to properly check with you what you are expecting your request will cover when you specified your interest was in ‘all clauses that restrict or require specific action or policy from the Ministry of Health’ . So there are a few things here – for example are you only interested in restrictions on MOH – or more broadly in such clauses relating to the government as a whole (eg Ministers etc – not just MOH)? And what sort of restrictions do you mean? To some extent the whole contract could be seen as a restriction or something that imposes obligations, so without further information from you it isn’t clear to me what you are aiming at. At this stage since we are looking at the requests as a group, and the majority of requests were for the full contract, I don’t need this clarification to progress the investigation. But, it would be useful when you have a bit of time, if you could email me why you think it is in the public interest to see these particular clauses (and what sort of clauses you are thinking of). I just want to make sure I understand your concerns, and have a good idea of the specific public interest issues your request is focused on.

Ngā mihi
Catriona McDougall

My response to Ombudsman email of 21 July, 2022

28 July, 2022
Hi Catriona

Firstly, thankyou for your efforts on this task.

I chose to specifically exclude the cost of vaccines from my OIA request as I predicted refusal based on 'commercial sensitivity'.

I am trying to understand which aspects of government policy were/are underpinned by the supply agreement (eg, alternative treatments, censorship, mandates, vaccine passes etc), the total number of doses agreed to purchase, over what time frame and any clauses around cancellation or default. I also want to know any clauses that address safety and efficacy ie, what level of protection was expected or promised, what trial data was provided, what adverse events were known and what severity and volume were expected, and in the event of the product failing to deliver, any recompense available.

The second reason for refusal provided by MoH was unexpected, and somewhat alarming: "to protect information that is subject to an obligation of confidence and making it available would likely damage the public interest"

Any obligation of confidence to Pfizer MUST be secondary to the obligation of good faith owed to the people of New Zealand. Any clause that could "damage the public interest" MUST be brought into the light.

Thanks again

Letter from Ombudsmans Office, 27 October, 2022

Tēnā koe Vanessa
Official Information Act Investigation
Ministry of Health
Request for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine supply agreement
I write on behalf of Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier to update you on his investigation of your
complaint, which, as you know, is part of a wider group of similar complaints about the refusal of
requests for Covid-19 vaccine supply agreements.
Thank you for your emails of 6 and 19 October, I am sorry I did not respond earlier. I am writing
today to update you on where the wider investigation is at, as well as to respond to a couple of
points you came back to me with in your email of 28 July.
Further to my email to you in July, we received a report from the Ministry of Health (MOH) responding to some additional queries we had. Following a review of that response, we sought some further information from the Ministry and from Treasury regarding the public interest
assessment of the indemnities granted by the Crown to the various suppliers. We have now
received that information and are reviewing it.
We will shortly be consulting with the vaccine companies directly on their views regarding release of the contracts, or information from the contracts. Once we have received their responses, we anticipate that the Chief Ombudsman will be in a position to form a provisional opinion which will
be sent to the relevant parties for comment. You can expect to hear from us in this respect by late November / early December, all going well.
In your email of 28 July, you explained that, in part, what you wanted to understand from the contract was safety and efficacy information for example ‘ what level of protection was expected or promised, what trial data was provided, what adverse events were known and what severity and volume were expected’. This is not the type of information that the contracts would cover specifically – instead this is the type of information that a vaccine supplier would submit to
Medsafe when requesting approval. Medsafe has published information about these subjects on its website.
You also said you wanted to ascertain which aspects of government policy were underpinned by the supply agreement such as ‘alternative treatments, censorship, mandates, vaccine passes’. It might help if you were a little more specific as I don’t understand how you consider that a
contract for the supply of a vaccine could or would have terms that would require a government to make policies of this nature. Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean? I can then ensure we cover this aspect of your concerns.

My response to Ombudsmans letter 27 October, 2022

27 October, 2022
Hi, and thankyou for the update.

I choose not to further explain my reasons for wanting to see the clauses of the Pfizer contract. When I explained previously, I was clear that the list I gave you was not an exhaustive list of the information I am seeking, or the questions I seek to answer.

I do not expect the contract to contain direct answers to all of the questions I have. Some will be answered directly, but for others, I expect they will provide background and context to some of the policies we have seen.

As I have said previously, any commitment to confidentiality the government has with Pfizer is wholly superceded by the commitment that it has to the people of NZ.

This contract was entered into on behalf of the people of NZ, and is being funded by the tax payers of NZ.

As a tax paying citizen of this country, the contract was entered into in my name, using my money, and I have a right to know what 'I' agreed to, and am paying for.

Thanks again, I look forward to the next update.