03 November 2022

Chris McCashin
[FYI request #20942 email]

Kia ora Chris

Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-021437
Thank you for your requests of 22 October 2022, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):

Request one:

1.  Total amount of compensation paid out for vaccine harm / death associated with the Covid-19
vaccine - to be broken down into fol owing
2.  Total amounts paid out for death - number of payouts
3.  Total compensation paid for injury including a list of all injuries compensated for
4.  Total costs for Medical treatment as a result of injury from vaccine Current monthly costs - eg -
Current compensation costs ACC are obligated to pay broken down into ongoing compensation per
month and ongoing medical treatment per month
5.  Budgeted / forecast compensation for rest of this year, 2023 & 2024
6.  What is the timeframe, limitations for any claims lodged?
7.  ACC could be liable for mil ions could they not?

Request two:

Can you also please confirm if

- there have been any people compensated for Covid-19 the virus including any ongoing medical costs,
similar to my request about the vaccine but relating to the virus itself [sic]

Request one

ACC publishes COVID-19 vaccine injury data online
The data requested in questions 1, 3 and 4 of is available on the ACC website, here:
https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-responses/covid-19-vaccination-claims-refresh-august-2022-ipa-
8450.pdf. Please note that the COVID-19 vaccine injury claims data is updated on a quarterly basis. As this
data is publicly available, we are not providing a copy of it in this response. This decision has been made
under section 18(d) of the Act.

The data referred to above does not provide the total amounts paid out for fatal claims. However, as there
have been fewer than four claims received for fatalities related to the COVID-19 vaccine, we are
withholding this information to protect our clients’ privacy. This decision has been made under section
9(2)(a) of the Act. In doing so, we have considered the public interest in making the information available
and determined it does not outweigh the need to protect our clients’ privacy.

We are unable to provide the budgeted/forecast compensation
ACC forecasts overall claims volumes to enable it to budget for and respond to future demand for its
services. It does not forecast projected costs for vaccine treatment injury claims as a separate group of
claims. As such, we are refusing to provide the budgeted/forecast compensation as this information does
not exist. This decision has been made under section 18(e) of the Act.

GOV-021437 Page 1 of 2

ACC consider al  treatment injury claims on the specific circumstances of each client
Treatment Injury claims should generally be made within 12 months from the later of; the date the injury
was first recognised as a treatment injury or the date the patient suffered the treatment injury. However,
ACC may still consider claims made after this time if there is clinical evidence of the diagnosis and cause of
the treatment injury. ACC could only decline a claim that was not lodged in the 12-month timeframe if our
ability to make a cover decision on the claim was prejudiced by the delay in lodging it.

We are refusing to respond to question seven as it is not asking for official information
Under the Act, a distinction exists between a request for information already known and held by an agency
(official information), versus a request for an agency to form an opinion (not official information).  Question
7 asks ACC to provide an opinion and is therefore not considered to be requesting official information
under the Act. Accordingly, we are refusing to respond.

Further information about official information requests can be found in the Ombudsman’s guide Making
official information requests. This is available on the Ombudsman’s website, here:
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/making-official-information-requests-guide-requesters.

Request two
Between 1 January 2020 and 22 October 2022, ACC has provided cover for 18 work-related claims where
the COVID-19 virus was a covered injury on the claim. In total, ACC has paid $132,431 (excluding GST)
towards these claims.

Please note, as a single claim can have more than one injury, that the figure provided may include costs for
treatment of other physical injuries on the same claims. The data was extracted on 26 October 2022 and
may differ if extracted again at a later date.

As this information may be of interest to other members of the public
ACC has decided to proactively release a copy of this response on ACC’s website. All requester data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released response will be
made available www.acc.co.nz/resources/#/category/12.

If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me at [email address].

If you are not happy with this response, you can also contact the Ombudsman via
[email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602. Information about how to make a complaint
is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.

Ngā mihi

Sara Freitag
Acting Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement

GOV-021437 Page 2 of 2

Document Outline