HNZ00043207 response.pdf

More information about the alleged breach and our response is available in the following updates
on our website:
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-information/news-and-updates/older-news-
items/reminder-of-vaccine-safety-and-effectiveness-following-release-of-misinformation/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-information/news-and-updates/older-news-
items/investigation-ongoing-into-release-of-data-and-spread-of-misinformation/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-information/news-and-updates/older-news-
items/update-unauthorised-data-breach-and-attempt-to-spread-misinformation/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-information/news-and-updates/older-news-
items/update-2-unauthorised-data-breach-and-attempt-to-spread-misinformation/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-information/news-and-updates/update-3-notifications-
begin-following-unauthorised-data-breach/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/health-sector-updates/data-
breaches/unauthorised-data-breach-and-attempt-to-spread-misinformation/
•  www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/health-sector-updates/data-
breaches/unauthorised-data-breach-update/.
Health NZ has identified nine emails in scope of your request. Please find these itemised in
Appendix 1 to this letter, with copies enclosed. Appendix 1 also outlines the grounds under which
information has been withheld. Where information is withheld under section 9 of the Act, I have
considered the public interest in releasing the information. However, I do not consider that this
public interest outweighs the need to withhold at this time.
You will note information is withheld under section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act. Particularly in the early
days of responding to the alleged data breach, these records and communications were prepared
under urgency to respond to the unfolding crisis and some information was not verified at that point
in time. We therefore consider it necessary to withhold these communications, as disclosure would
inhibit the future exchange of free and frank opinions and thereby inhibit the effective conduct of
public affairs.
I apologise for the delay in providing our response. The time taken is not what we aspire to. This is
something we are working to get on top of as we deal with a high volume of requests and the
understandably high public interest in our work.
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 NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. All requester data, including your name and
contact details, will be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā

Sasha Wood
Head of Government Services
Office of the Chief Executive

Document 3
From:
Margie Apa
To:
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Andrew Slater; Peter Alsop; Nick Chamberlain
Cc:
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject:
RE: DISCLOSURE incident - approach for a proactive release
Date:
Friday, 1 December 2023 7:00:20 am
Attachments:
image001.jpg
Looks good thanks.
From: s 9(2)(g)(ii)

Sent: Friday, 1 December 2023 6:12 am
To: Margie Apa <[email address]>; Andrew Slater <[email address]>;
Peter Alsop <[email address]>; Nick Chamberlain
<[email address]>
Cc: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject: DISCLOSURE incident - approach for a proactive release
Hi – please see below for the suggested approach to a proactive release on this – it is a different
tone than the stronger reactive approach that we’d need to take.  The messaging for that, which
went to the Minister’s office last night, is further below.
Proactive
We remind people that vaccines remain safe and effective and that they should keep up to date
with their shots to protect themselves, whanau and their communities.
We are aware that one of our staff, with no clinical background or expert vaccine knowledge, is
trying to spread misinformation.
What he is claiming is completely wrong and ill-informed and his comments demonstrate this.
Sadly, we have continued to see conspiracy theorists disseminating false and harmful
misinformation.
We assure people there is no evidence whatsoever that vaccination is responsible for excess
mortality in New Zealand and that they can continue to have confidence in vaccines.
Publicly available data shows that four deaths in New Zealand are possibly linked to adverse
reactions following COVID-19 vaccination.   This is in the context of 3,361 people whose deaths
have to date been directly attributed to COVID-19 in New Zealand, with more than 12.6 million
vaccines administered to eligible New Zealanders as of 2 October 2023.
By chance, and separate to a prior COVID-19 vaccination event, some people will experience new
illnesses or die from a pre-existing condition shortly after vaccination, especially if they are
elderly. The Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) and Medsafe have investigated
these deaths.
In addition to this, the COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB) has
compared natural death rates to observed death rates following vaccination.
In the monitoring period for the Pfizer/ BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (19 February 2021 to 30
September 2022), the observed number of deaths was less than the expected number of natural
deaths.
It is extremely disappointing to see a staff member trying to misuse our data to spread
misinformation.  He is no longer at work and an employment investigation is underway.

Document 3
Reactive

Primary messaging:

We’re extremely disappointed at the behaviour of this staff member – what he is claiming
is completely wrong and ill-informed.
He has no medical background or expert knowledge, and his comments demonstrate this.
An employment investigation process is underway.
There are many conspiracy theorists out there unfortunately who disseminate harmful
disinformation.
The public can and should continue to have confidence in vaccines.
There is no evidence whatsoever that vaccination is responsible for excess mortality in
New Zealand.

Secondary messaging:

We take the security of the information we hold extremely seriously and this is a
significant breach of trust.
As soon as we became aware of what he was up to we took immediate steps to
investigate and respond.
We blocked his access to our systems and began assessing what information may have
been accessed.
At this stage we haven’t seen evidence to suggest personal data has been downloaded
and we are continuing to examine the databases, devices (including computers and
phones) and the emails of the staff member.
We are seeking a court injunction over the improper and unauthorised public disclosure
and use of the information.
Publicly available data shows that four deaths in New Zealand are possibly linked to
adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccination.
This is in the context of 3,361 people whose deaths have to date been directly attributed
to COVID-19 in New Zealand, with more than 12.6 million vaccines administered to eligible
New Zealanders as of 2 October 2023.
By chance and separate to a prior COVID-19 vaccination event, some people will
experience new illnesses or die from a pre-existing condition shortly after vaccination,
especially if they are elderly.
The Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) and Medsafe have investigated
these deaths.
In addition to this, the COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB)
has compared natural death rates to observed death rates following vaccination.
In the monitoring period for the Pfizer/ BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (19 February 2021 to
30 September 2022), the observed number of deaths was less than the expected number
of natural deaths.

Document 7
From:
Margie Apa
To:
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Cc:
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject:
Re: On camera interview for this afternoon
Date:
Monday, 4 December 2023 12:12:58 pm
Attachments:
image001.jpg
Thanks s 9(2)(g)(ii) will someone come and set up a room or find a place to do this?
From: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 12:11:34 PM
To: Margie Apa <[email address]>; Andrew Slater <[email address]>;
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Cc: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject: RE: On camera interview for this afternoon
They are coming to Spark.
s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
From: Margie Apa <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, 4 December 2023 12:11 pm
To: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Andrew Slater
<[email address]>; s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Cc: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject: Re: On camera interview for this afternoon
When we say on camera do we mean on zoom or are they coming to Spark?
From: Margie Apa <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 12:10:04 PM
To: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Andrew Slater
<[email address]>; s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Cc: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Subject: Re: On camera interview for this afternoon
Thanks can we check the first question on any other detection with s 9(2)(g)(ii)? I have not been
alerted to any.
From: s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 12:08:21 PM
To: Andrew Slater <[email address]>; s 9(2)(g)(ii)
Margie Apa <[email address]>
Cc: s 9(2)(g)(ii)

Document 8
From:
Margie Apa
To:
[email address]; [email address];
[email address]; [email address];
[email address]; [email address];
[email address]; [email address]; Margie Apa-Ext;
[email address]
Subject:
HAVE FORWARDED TO s 9(2)(g)(ii) Re: Data Leak, I was provided with the data and would like to report
Date:
Tuesday, 5 December 2023 5:05:54 pm
From: s 9(2)(a)
Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2023 5:00 PM
To: [email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>;
[email address] <[email address]>; Margie
Apa-Ext <[email address]>; [email address]
<[email address]>
Subject: Data Leak, I was provided with the data and would like to report
Hi,
I would like to report an individual, s 9(2)(a)
as he
published the NZW Leaked data and received it directly from your suspect. After his account
was suspended from the hosting site he reposted it and it's currently available for download. It
was "deidentified" from what was said. s 9(2)(a)
also emailed me me the data to analyze a
few weeks ago and it was NOT fully deidentfied. That data file I received showed internal batch
numbers, location of vaccination, type of vaccine, age and date of death. Enough info I could see
someone being able to identify someone based on the information using obituaries. I was
unaware at the time that it was illegally accessed and I have NOT shared the data since learning
this information and I wanted to report to your office immediately.
Please let me know if you would like me to send you a copy of what I was sent and if you would
like details for the individual who posted the information for download and sent it to me. I’m
also willing to make any statements you might need or file the information with the police if
warranted. I have never spoken to or dealt anyone except s 9(2)(a)
.
Now that I am aware that the information was illegally obtained I am prepared to delete the file
from my possession after hearing back from your office. If I do not hear back by this Friday
December 8th 11:59pm PST I will be deleting the file at that time so that I am not in possession
of the information.
Please advise if you would like me to give any information or how I should proceed. And if I do
not hear back I will simply delete the data on Friday.
Thanks,
s 9(2)(a)

Document 9
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz