133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T +64 4 496 2000
W www.medsafe.govt.nz
17 February 2023
Chris McCashin
By email: [FYI request #21301 email]
Ref:
H2022017897
Tēnā koe Chris
Response to your request for official information Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to Manatū Hauora
(the Ministry of Health) on 30 November 2022. You requested:
“Please provide from 2010 to todays date the following
- total number of Medsafe approved drugs / medicine / therapeutics which have been
removed from circulation
- name of drug / treatment
- date of removal
- reason for removal to include reporting / recommendations
- signatories to removal
- memos associated with the removal
- side effects / complaints from the use of medicine which required the investigation and
subsequent removal
- reports to MACC or CARM ghat triggered investigation / removal
- death signal for the removal of an approved medicine in New Zealand if there is one -
CDC in the USA have one of these
On 15 and 22 December 2022, you were contacted by Manatū Hauora to clarify “removed from
circulation”, and if you are you meaning drugs, medicine, and therapeutics that Medsafe have
revoked consent for. On 6 January 2023, you responded with:
“Yes all medications that Medsafe have revoked consent for.”
On 18 January 2023, Manatū Hauora decided to extend the period of time available to respond to
this part of your request under section 15A of the Act. We provided you with a list of the 18
identified medicines that Medsafe have revoked consent for and asked if you could notify us with
one of the medicines from this list in order to provide you with the information you had requested.
On the same day, you responded with:
Please provide the requested information for all of these medications
As you did not refine this part of your request to one of the 18 identified medicines that Medsafe
have revoked consent for, this part of your request is refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as
the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research. You
may wish to make a new request with one of the 18 identified medicines provided to you and we
can provide you with this information. Please find a response to the remaining parts of your
request below:
Additionally can you also provide all of the funds Medsafe has received from Pfizer or
associated entities annually 2010 – 2022”
A response to this part of your request was provided to you on 18 January 2023.
I am trying to understand the standard to have medications removed from circulation Eg -
one death? one injury? Ultimately what is the standard for these medications? Because it
appears death, heart conditions, strokes, MIS-C and countless serious other injuries will not
stop this vaccine rollout.
The standards and process for the removal of medicines from circulation are included in the
Medicines Act 1981, which is publicly available at:
www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1981/0118/latest/DLM53790.html.
Please note, for a medicine to be removed from circulation, there needs to be evidence that the
medicine is the cause of the side effects. The side effects that you have listed are not supported
by evidence as being caused by the Pfizer Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, this part of
your request is refused under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information requested does not
exist.
Further question - is the standard for the consent of these medical products being removed
at a lower bar than one death? Because if any of them have been removed for less than
that serious questions need to be asked as to why the Pfizer shot is still in circulation?
As stated in the Medicines Act 1981, all the particulars should be considered. The therapeutic
value of the medicine is weighed against the risk of the use of the medicine injuriously affecting
the health of any person. There is no specific safety standard as you have described, as there is
a balance between benefit and safety of each medicine considered. More information about this
is available on the Medsafe website at:
www.medsafe.govt.nz/consumers/safety-of-
medicines/medsafe-evaluation-process.asp.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions
made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
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Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Manatū Hauora website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-
official-information-act-requests. Nāku noa, nā
Chris James
Group Manager
Medsafe
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