IR-01-22-6082
15 July 2022
Chuck Schooner
[FYI request #18763 email]
Dear Chuck
Request for Information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 3 March 2022,
in which you asked for information regarding the COVID-19 Public Health
response (Specified Work Vaccination) Order 2021. You requested the following:
any and all correspondence sought by the Police and Defense to either MOH
or Government or any other agency for mandating vaccines including but not
limited to
- email Correspondence
- cost/benefit analysis
- legal justification
- feedback from Police staff
- recommendation reporting
- names of people involved
- texts, cal ’s anything that fit this scope
As part of this can you also provide feedback on the following from an in
house Police survey
- %/total staff who wil ingly took vaccine
- %/total staff who took vaccine because they were mandated/blackmailed to
get it
- %/total staff who left
- total number of any vaccine injuries
Please also provide any and all correspondence/collaboration with Defence. I
am also sending this to Defence.
On 8 March 2022 you refined your request as follows:
I am specifically asking for information relating to when the NZ Police in
conjunction with Defence asked the Government to mandate the
vaccination for their staff - who was the person at NZ Police that
approached any agency to mandate the vaccination for NZ Police staff.
Telephone: . . www.police.govt.nz
I am not sure what dates are involved - but the PM stated that Police and
Defence approached the government - so who approached the government
and what the initial request to government looked like when the Police
approached the government and asked them to mandate it.
One briefing to the Minister was found to be in scope of your request, therefore
this part of your request has been transferred to the Minister of Police and he wil
respond to you directly.
Development of the Cabinet paper
Requiring COVID-19 vaccination for work
through Government mandates and employer decisions was led by the Ministry
of Business, Innovation and Employment. This Cabinet paper has been
proactively released and is available at:
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/19935-requiring-covid-19-vaccination-for-
work-through-government-mandates-and-employer-requirements-proactiverelease-
pdf
In response to your request for data, while Police has not carried out an ‘in house
survey’ however I can confirm that as at the date of your request our staff notified
us:
•
%/total staff who wil ingly took vaccine
14,636 staff (97.5 percent) had received two vaccination doses against COVID-
19.
•
%/total staff who took vaccine because they were mandated/blackmailed
to get it
Three staff had notified Police that the Health Orders were the reason that they
got vaccinated.
•
%/total staff who left
On 29 March 2022, Police provided a response to your request of 11 February
2022 for
‘total resignations 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 to date’. Police provided
you with the numbers of staff resignations for the calendar years 2019 to 2021,
and up to 15 February 2022. I have therefore interpreted this part of your request
to be for further numbers of resignations.
Between 16 February and the date of your request, a further 36 people resigned
from Police. Please note that staff resign for a number of reasons (ie: change of
direction, health reasons, etc) and these resignations are not necessarily be
attributed to the Health Orders.
•
total number of any vaccine injuries
Police is not aware of any staff reactions that have been attributed to the
COVID-19 vaccine by a medical professional.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are
not satisfied with Police’s response to your request.
Yours sincerely
Russell Le Prou
Director Covid Resilience
Police National Headquarters
