Tçnâ koe, Erika

 

Thank you for your email. 

 

Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.

 

Please note that the period from 25 December 2025 to 15 January 2026
(inclusive) is not counted as working days under the OIA. As a result, any
OIA requests received on or after 29 November 2025 may take longer to
process than usual, as the maximum response timeframe may extend into the
new year.

If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?

 

Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.

 

You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand

 

We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

 

Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora

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Kia ora Erika 

Thank you for your request below for official information, received on
Sunday 14 December 2025: 

In order to provide you with the information requested, could you please
refine the time frame of your request? 

 

We would suggest a time frame of a month prior to the letter being sent
out on 2 November 2021 until a week after 12 November 2021, being the
date, the declarations needed to be completed on. (i.e. 1 October 2021 –
19 November 2021).

We want to work with you to avoid refusing parts of your request if
possible and in order for us to collate the information in a manner that
is feasibly retrievable. As such, we would greatly appreciate you refining
your request (as above) in a way that may better help us to respond.

 

As I'm sure you can appreciate, we need your engagement to ensure that the
request is processed effectively. In light of that, if we don't hear back
by Monday 5 January 2026 we'll proceed with the information we have.

 

Please note, under section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA),
any clarification or amendments made to a request within seven days after
the date it is received, that request may be treated as a new request and
the time limit for the response restarts. 

You can provide your refined request by return email
to [1][email address].

 

We look forward to receiving your response. 

Ngâ mihi

Kathleen 

Government Services

[2][email address]   

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

 

------------------- Original Message -------------------
From: Erika Whittome <[FOI #33253 email]>; 
Received: Sun Dec 14 2025 06:50:07 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
To: [Health New Zealand request email]; 
Subject: Official Information request - HealthSource actions against
businesses unable to comply with the vax order

Dear Health New Zealand,
I am requesting information based on the 5 November 2021 correspondence
below from HealthSource to pharmacies:

"Follow up on Vaccination Mandate for Northern Region District Health
Boards
Dear service provider
On Tuesday, 2 November 2021, HealthSource, on behalf of the four Northern
Region DHBs,including contractors to healthAlliance and HealthSource
(NRDHBs), sent out a letter outlining the requirements of the COVID-19
Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 as it applies to
contractors, service providers, volunteers and others who provide services
in a setting where healthcare is delivered.

While you may have already had some direct contact with a DHB on this
matter, in order to streamline compliance for NRDHBs, contractors and
service providers, HealthSource will be collecting and centrally managing
responses on behalf of the NRDHBs.

We acknowledge this communication has gone to a wide group of DHB
contractors and providers. This letter may not apply to you if you do not
provide a service to any of the NRDHBs, in line with the indicated
guidance below.

Each of the NRDHB’s are a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking
(PCBU) under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (the Act) and are
required to mitigate risks to their employees, health consumers and those
that provide them with services. As such, and in accordance with the
Order, any contractors, volunteers or service providers coming onto a DHB
site, or delivering care and support services in a person’s home or place
of residence, or if in the course of fulfilling contracted services for a
DHB are assumed to be in close contact with pa ents or staff and will be
required to be fully vaccinated to the same extent as if they were a DHB
employee.

This means that anyone in New Zealand who provides services within a
healthcare setting must have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by
15 November 2021 and have their second dose of the vaccine by 1 January
2022.

If you or your business are unable to comply with the order, this may
impact any contracts held.
...
Please complete the above declaration by no later than 12 November 2021.
If we do not hear from you by 12 November 2021, we will assume that you or
your employees, consultants, contractors or volunteers are not vaccinated
and will proceed on that basis.

For any questions we can be contacted at  communications at (@)
healthsourcenz.co.nz
With kind regards,
Ian Dodson
Joint Interim CEO
HealthSource"

1. Please share the minutes of the meeting, correspondence, memos etc
regarding the decision of HealthSource to send this above letter to
pharmacies .

2. Please share the risk assessment HealthSource undertook on pharmacies
that was used to mitigate the risk of the covid-19 disease with the
specific control measure of vaccination.

3. Please share how many businesses were unable to comply with this order
by 12 November 2021.

4. Please share the number of business that did not comply with the the
COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 and which had
their contracts impacted.
5. Please share the details of how contracts were impacted for
non-compliance

Yours faithfully,

Erika Whittome

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