8 April 2024
Ryan
[FYI request #25121 email]
Tēnā koe Ryan,
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00034388
Thank you for your email on 12 December 2023, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora information
about COVID-19 vaccine under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). You will receive two response
letters to your questions, as your request requires information across two distinct directorates within Health
New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. Please find the Prevention Directorate response to questions 2, 3, 6 and 7 of
your request below.
2. Please provide information to clarify the cumulative total injected with Dose 1 as there is discrepancy
between the 4,350,651 injected as stated in the above mentioned Medsafe report #46 and the Te Whatu
Ora current published statistics as at Friday 1st December 2023 being 4,032,197 which indicates 318,454
doses less than stated in the Medsafe total published a year earlier - please clarify which record is correct
with statistics quoted from COVID-19 vaccine data – Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
3. Medsafe report #46 states 4,185,404 were injected with Dose 2 by 30th September 2022 but Te Whatu
Ora says cumulative total for Dose 2 is just 3,985,395 up to & including 1st December 2023 creating a
shortfal in latest data of 200,009 - please clarify which record is correct and the reasons for discrepancy.
There are several reasons for the difference in the cumulative counts of vaccination data from Medsafe
report #46 and the vaccination data available on the Te Whatu Ora website.
These include:
• Different age groupings used for Medsafe report #46 and the Te Whatu Ora website. The Medsafe
report includes age groups 0-9 and 10-19 in the cumulative total of administered doses, this age
range would include individuals who received paediatric dose 1 and dose 2 vaccinations. The data
on the Te Whatu Ora website separates individuals who received their paediatric doses from those
in the older age groups who received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The current Health New Zealand |Te Whatu Ora website uses vaccination data that has been entered
into the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR). The AIR is a new immunisation register which had to
migrate vaccination records from the COVID-19 Immunisation Register (CIR) and the National
Immunisation Register (NIR). While many records have been migrated, this process is not complete.
• Additional y, a benefit of the new AIR immunisation register is a more robust validation of data. The
data in the Medsafe report #46 came from the CIR. In the CIR, vaccination appointments could
potentially be recorded as vaccination events, even if the individual was unable to make the
appointment or did not complete their vaccination. More robust data validation could contribute to
the discrepancy seen between the two sources.
Differences in age grouping, more robust data validation within data systems, and migration of data between
immunisation registers can all result in different total administered doses being displayed. The information
provided in Medsafe report #46 is a snapshot of the data at the time of extraction and wil not be updated.
Health New Zealand |Te Whatu Ora wil continue to update information on the website and should be used
in the future when looking for immunisation information
6. Please provide information on how many sought and how many received vaccine exemptions based on
adverse events to Dose 1 and also provide any and al findings into the health outcomes for this cohort
who clearly started the treatment but for some reason did not take the second dose which was an accepted
fol ow up for anyone taking the first dose.
Total complete
applications received Granted
Declined
Old criteria
1b Serious adverse event to previous dose
302
58
244
2a Anaphylaxis to the first dose of the vaccine or known severe
125
11
114
allergy to the excipients of the vaccine
2b Myocarditis/pericarditis fol owing the first dose of the vaccine
119
43
76
New Criteria
2a Significant adverse reaction to previous dose
215
48
167
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora does not hold information on findings into the health outcomes from
those applications. Therefore, as the information is not held by us and we do not believe the information is
held by another agency, we are refusing this part of the request under section 18(g)(i) of the Act.
7. Please provide information showing how many covid vaccine exemptions were applied for, and how
many were granted to individual persons acting as PCBU as a cumulative total & the date range in which
they were provided.
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora does not hold information on whether an exemption application was
received from individuals acting as PCBU. Therefore, as the information is not held by us and we do not
believe the information is held by another agency, we are refusing this part of the request under section
18(g)(i) of the Act.
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, Health New Zealand | 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
Alana Ewe-Snow
Director, Prevention
National Public Health Service
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
