15 August 2024
Chris McCashin
[FYI request #27316 email]
Tēnā koe Chris
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00053761
Thank you for your email on 20 June 2024, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for the
fol owing under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
The vaccination data for New Zealanders including total number of vaccinations given, total
number of people that have died after receiving a vaccination, date of death, age, and gender
for the period after December 13, 2023.
- Any analysis completed by the Ministry of Health on the data released by Steve Kirsch or
your own internal databases. Please let me know what teams, epidemiologists consultants
did the analysis. If no analysis was done, please explain why.
- Al internal communications, including emails, texts, instant messages, WhatsApp messages,
formal and informal memos between Health NZ staff notified by Steve Kirsch discussing
excess deaths, Barry Young and Steve Kirsch. Please ensure the executive team members
who received these communications are signatories to this response.
- Please also publish vaccinations given and total number of people who have sadly passed
included on the letterhead response as well as in excel format.
- Any memos, formal / informal, communications discussing excess deaths and potentially
taking the Pfizer vaccine out of circulation (note Astrazeneca is no longer available) which
functions the same as the Pfizer vaccine
I also submitted a previous OIA requesting the total spend on lawyers / consultants to erase
the data. Can you please update this request to provide the total spend on these consultants.
Response
The vaccination data for New Zealanders including total number of vaccinations given, total
number of people that have died after receiving a vaccination, date of death, age, and gender
for the period after December 13, 2023.
Please also publish vaccinations given and total number of people who have sadly passed
included on the letterhead response as well as in excel format.
Please see the following data and the attached excel spreadsheet (
Appendix 1). Please note:
• Data is at 1 July 2024
• Data is subject to data quality issues in the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR)
• Deaths are recorded only for individuals who have passed away since 13 December 2023
and who had previously received a COVID-19 vaccine at
any point. Note that the majority
of New Zealand’s population have received a COVID-19 vaccine (>95%) and the data does
not distinguish the time period between vaccination and the death. The data provided on
deaths also cannot be used to determine whether a death was linked to or associated with
vaccination.
• Age has been grouped into 10-year age bands
• Age has been taken as age at death
• Total vaccine data is only COVID-19 vaccines given in NZ
• Total deaths include individuals that had COVID-19 vaccines given in NZ and/or overseas
Total Vaccines for time period requested
Event Month
Doses given
2023-12-01
71019
2024-01-01
60194
2024-02-01
26385
2024-03-01
40489
2024-04-01
111116
2024-05-01
115451
2024-06-01
86513
Total
511167
Total Deaths for time period requested (vaccinated individuals– deaths from all causes)
Death Month
Total deaths
2023-12-01
1812
2024-01-01
2728
2024-02-01
2518
2024-03-01
2698
2024-04-01
2721
2024-05-01
3062
2024-06-01
2590
Total
18129
Deaths by Gender for time period requested
Gender
Total deaths
Female
8805
Male
9290
Unknown/Other
34
Total
18129
Deaths by Age for time period requested
Age
Total deaths
<20
74
20-29
152
30-39
216
40-49
458
50-59
1058
60-69
2209
70-79
4093
80-89
6092
90-99
3585
>100+
192
Total
18129
Any analysis completed by the Ministry of Health on the data released by Steve Kirsch or your
own internal databases. Please let me know what teams, epidemiologists consultants did the
analysis. If no analysis was done, please explain why.
Health NZ has not completed any analysis on the data released by Steve Kirsch. It has no
obligation to verify misinformation. However, to provide you with reasonable assistance under the
Act, on 18 July 2024 we advised you that the information you requested is more closely connected
with the functions of the Ministry of Health, and transferred this part of your request to the Ministry
in accordance with 14(b)(i ) of the Act. You can expect a response from the Ministry in due course.
If you need to get in touch with the Ministry of Health you can contact them at
[email address]. Additionally, you may be interested in information regarding analysis for the safety of the COVID-
19 vaccine. These are available on the websites listed below:
• Medsafe COVID-19 monitoring:
https://medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/covid-landing.asp
• Final Report of the COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB)
available at:
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/publications/final-report-of-the-covid-19-
vaccine-independent-safety-monitoring-board-cv-ismb/
• Sources for vaccine safety information:
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/health-services-
and-programmes/vaccine-information/vaccine-service-delivery/vaccine-safety-
monitoring/sources-for-vaccine-safety-information/
Al internal communications, including emails, texts, instant messages, WhatsApp messages,
formal and informal memos between Health NZ staff notified by Steve Kirsch discussing
excess deaths, Barry Young and Steve Kirsch.
Please see the documents enclosed in Appendix 2. Some information has been withheld under
section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the privacy of individuals. The need to protect their privacy is
not outweighed by the public interest in the release of the information
Some names and email addresses have also been withheld under section 6(d) of the Act, on the
basis that making available the information would be likely to endanger the safety of any person.
Any memos, formal / informal, communications discussing excess deaths and potentially
taking the Pfizer vaccine out of circulation (note Astrazeneca is no longer available) which
functions the same as the Pfizer vaccine
Health NZ does not hold any memos, formal/informal, communications discussing excess deaths
and potentially taking the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine out of circulation.
However, this part of your
request asks for information which may be more closely aligned with the functions of Pharmac and
the Ministry of Health. Accordingly, to provide you with reasonable assistance under the Act, on 18
July 2024 we advised you that Health NZ had decided to transfer this part of your request to
Pharmac and the Ministry of Health under section 14(b)(i ) of the Act. You can expect a response
from Pharmac and the Ministry of Health in due course. If you need to get in touch with these
organizations you can contact the Ministry at
[email address] and Pharmac at
[email address] .
I also submitted a previous OIA requesting the total spend on lawyers / consultants to erase
the data. Can you please update this request to provide the total spend on these consultants.
The previous figure (NZ$42,730 excluding GST)
was an approximation as noted in our earlier
response. Our latest total calculated for Simpson Grierson’s and Clyde & Co’s fees for work on
this aspect is a total of $31,693.24 excluding GST. As explained in our previous response, they
have provided a range of services, including taking steps to remove Health NZ confidential data
from the internet and prevent further unauthorised access or disclosure of it.
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 NZ 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
Danielle Coe
Manager (OIA) Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
