7 May 2026
Nigel Gray
[FYI request #34258 email]
Tēnā koe Nigel
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00202370
Thank you for your email on 8 April 2026, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for the
following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
"Official Information Request – Definitions of “Safe” and “Effective” in Public Health
Communications. I note that the Department of Conservation uses the phrase “safe and
effective” in its public facing material describing sodium fluoroacetate (1080). To
understand how these terms are used across government agencies, I request the following
information from the Ministry of Health:
1. Definitions and criteria
Please provide the Ministry of Health’s definitions, criteria, or internal guidance for the use
of the terms:
“safe”
“effective”
“safe and effective”
in public facing health communications.
2. Application to vaccines
Please provide any documents, guidance, or communication frameworks that informed the
Ministry’s use of these terms in relation to COVID 19 vaccines.
3. Consistency of terminology
Please provide any documents, emails, or internal discussions held by the Ministry that
address whether the Ministry’s definitions or criteria for “safe” and “effective” differ from, or
align with, the usage of these terms by other government agencies (including DOC), in
relation to hazardous substances such as 1080."
Response
Health NZ does not hold definitions, criteria, or internal guidance for these terms. Instead, we use
the plain English definitions in accordance with the Oxford dictionary. When we use the terms “safe
and effective” in relation to medicines and vaccines, it is based on Medsafe’s statutory assessment
framework, not on bespoke definitions held by Health NZ. "Safe and effective” means approved by
Medsafe under the Medicines Act, rather than meeting a separately defined threshold set by
Health NZ.
Medsafe is New Zealand’s medicines and medical devices safety authority and is responsible for
the evaluation and approval of medicines and vaccine applications. Al medicines and vaccines
must meet standards for safety, quality, and efficacy before they are approved for use in New
Zealand. Medsafe’s assessment considers the totality of evidence and whether the vaccine has a
favourable benefit–risk profile for the intended use.
In addition, the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM), operated by the New Zealand
Pharmacovigilance Centre, receives and monitors reports of adverse reactions to medicines and
vaccines. This ongoing surveil ance supports continued monitoring of vaccine safety after approval,
and enables follow-up and action where required.
An email sweep has been completed to check for any correspondence between Health NZ and
other agencies regarding alignment around the use of the phrase “safe and effective”, and no
correspondence in scope of your request has been identified. That information is therefore refused
under section 18(e) of the OIA as it does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot
be found.
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
Sara Freitag
Manager, Government Services
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
