16 December 2025
Gerald
[FYI request #32608 email]
Tēnā koe Gerald
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00104231
Thank you for your email on 20 November 2025 asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
(Health NZ) for the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
“1. The OIA requires agencies to actually answer the questions asked.
Referring me to a publicly available guideline does not address my specific questions
regarding:Whether SDS-based Health & Safety risk assessments were carried out.
Whether staff were provided SDS or hazard information.
What PPE instructions or guidance were issued.
The correspondence and internal communications surrounding these matters.
2. The refusal under s18(e) is implausible." Your requests for relevant correspondence,
emails, WhatsApp messages, texts and meeting minutes has been refused under section
18(e) of the OIA as this information does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it,
cannot be found." Al DHBs and Health NZ must, under the Health and Safety at Work Act
2015, conduct and document hazard management, risk analyses, and safe-handling
guidelines—especially for temperature-sensitive biological substances requiring dilution,
PPE, and specialised handling. You have supplied the "National Immunisation Operating
Guidelines for COVID-19 Vaccines and General Operating Guidance" This guideline
highlights Public-facing guidance, Internal SOPs, National training modules, DHB
vaccination centre handbooks & MoH evidence of risk planning for cold-chain breaches.
This reply is contradictory to your reply of "information does not exist or, despite reasonable
efforts to locate it, cannot be found."
Given the scale of the national vaccination programme rollout in 2021, Particularly
Highbrook in Auckland being the first of its kind. It is extremely unlikely that no risk
assessments, SDS documents, staff guidance, emails, texts, briefing notes, meeting
minutes, SOPs exist anywhere within Health NZ or the former DHBs. Health NZ has
inherited all DHB records, therefore the information must exist in your custody.
3. No evidence was provided of “reasonable efforts to locate the information.”
Please specify: Which offices and regional teams were contacted What repositories were
searched What search terms were used Whether former DHB COVID-19 vaccination teams
were consulted Whether SOP repositories, IMAC guidance, or vaccine logistics teams were
searched.
4. You did not consider partial release or transfer under section 14 of the Official
Information act. If some information is not held by Health NZ but is held by another agency,
please transfer as required.
5. If information does not exist, please issue a section 23 statement under the Official
Information Act (OIA), explaining the reasons for the absence of the required risk
assessments or staff safety documentation, given statutory health and safety obligations
during vaccine handling.”
Response
Health NZ stands by our original response of 13 November 2025 (HNZ00101664 refers) including
the refusal under section 18(e) of the OIA, on the basis that the information you have requested
does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
The National Immunisation Operating Guidelines provided in our previous response outlines the
operational guidance for the COVID-19 vaccination Programme:
www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/assets/Health-services-and-programmes/Immunisation/Vaccine-service-
delivery/National-Immunisation-Operating-Guidelines-COVID-19-Vaccines-and-General-Operating-
Guidance.pdf.
This document was initially published by Manatū Hauora | The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) in
2021 and includes all relevant information for COVID-19 vaccination sites. Section 8 (page 36) of
the guidelines details vaccine storage and handling, relevant to part 1 of your request. As
explained in this section, Health NZ follows the manufacturer’s specifications for vaccine handling.
Appendix J (page 120) refers you to various publicly available information guidance on the use of
PPE in health settings for COVID-19
: www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/covid-
19/information-for-health-professionals/infection-prevention-and-control-recommendations-for-
health-and-disability-care-workers.
Reasonable efforts were made to search for the requested material. These efforts included
searches across relevant Health NZ repositories and inherited DHB records. However, we did not
identify the requested emails, texts or meeting minutes. The refusal provided in our previous
response to you is based on the absence of those specific document types, not the absence of
safety processes.
As you may be aware, the functions for the COVID-19 response were transferred in 2022 from the
Ministry to Health NZ. Some of the documents associated with these functions were transferred to
us; however, not all records were transferred as part of this process.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us a
t [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 (OIAs) – Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793, Wellington 6140,
New Zealand
