3 October 2023
Chris McCashin
[FYI request #23748 email]
Tēnā koe Chris
Your request for Official information, reference: HNZ00029715
Thank you for your email on 7 September 2023, asking for the following under the Of icial
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“There are a few things that don't really make sense when looking at this dataset, data from
Medsafe and adverse reactions to the vaccine and just generic information which leads me
to a few more questions. Are you able to please provide the following.
With regard to the Overview of Vaccine Reports - how are the background rate
"hospitalisations per year" calculated? There seem to be some significant anomalies. eg.
Guillain-Barre - Background rates in vaccine reports are at 273 per year yet at no point in
the last few years are the numbers this high. Why are the background rates seemingly
overestimated in vaccine reports?
This is the same with Bells Palsy - background rates in vaccine reports are 694 yet the
maximum in the data you provided me mention 435 only this latest year. This is 60%
above the most recent numbers so why is this so high.
The vaccine reports show 974 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis yet the data you
provided me says there were circa 330 cases. Where have the other 600 odd cases gone?
Per the background rates myocarditis / pericarditis you state background rates of 931 cases
per year yet the numbers you provided me - up until recently there haven't been more than
400 cases and then in the vaccine reports there are 974 cases that don't appear to be in
the data you provided me?
There appears to be a number of other significant anomalies specifically relating to the
Medsafe Vaccine reports overestimating the background rates of il nesses when compared
against actual data notably stroke, heart attacks, embolisms - pretty much everything
Is it also concerning that every single il ness appears to be going up for the Heatlh
authorities - we know why these numbers are so bad the last couple of years with the
"vaccine", but from the early 2000's it appears each and every metric kiwis are getting
unhealthier - food, toxins, pesticides?
But most important for this request is how background rates for Medsafe vaccine reports
are calculated, yet all of the actual il ness data you provided is significantly lower and then it
seems the background rates are massively overinflated. It is very concerning.”
Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand does not receive national level data about diagnoses made
by primary care providers, for example GPs. As the conditions you have asked about may be
diagnosed in a primary care setting, we do not hold complete data for these conditions in New
Zealand.
We can provide data on conditions which required hospital treatment, this does not include people
who received treatment outside the hospital system.
The 2021/2022 financial year is the latest year for which complete national level hospital events
data is available. Data for 2020/21 and 2021/22 is considered provisional. Between 1999 and
2012, there were changes in the way former District Health Boards reported their emergency
department (ED) data. Data provided for these years should therefore be interpreted with caution.
More information about this issue can be found here:
https:/ www.health.govt.nz/publication/factsheet-short-stay-emergency-department-events.
Some of the discrepancies you have highlighted are largely due to how the events were counted,
based on our data. We count the number of hospitalisations caused by a condition. This is where
the primary diagnosis code relates to that condition. The report you mention counted all events
where the code was reported as both a primary diagnosis and as a secondary condition. People
hospitalised multiple times due to transfers, readmission, or multiple incidents wil be counted each
time they are discharged.
With regards to why the volumes go up over time, aside from the short stay ED reporting issue
which affects some conditions between 2000 and 2012, the steady growth can be attributed to
population growth. In 2000, New Zealand’s population was 3.8 mil ion, in 2021 it is 5.1 million. That
is why, when comparing over time, we recommend calculating rates to adjust for this growth, rather
than raw counts.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name
and contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Gaynor Bradfield
Manager
Office of the Chief Data and Digital
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
