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Erika Whittome
[FYI request #34541 email]
30 June 2026
Tēnā koe Erika
OIA: GEMS-47879 – COVID-19 vaccination mandates on tertiary workforce
Thank you for your email of 25 April 2026 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information:
I refer to this advice dated 10 Dec 2021 for tertiary and international education
which is published here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20211227175633/https://www.education.govt
.nz/covid-19/advice-for-tertiary-providerswhare-wananga/covid-19-
protection-framework-advice-for-tertiary-education-
providers/red/#vaccination It says:
“Tertiary education providers that choose not to require My Vaccine Passes
onsite at Red must close to students and visitors”
1. Please would you share the meeting minutes correspondence, all
emails etc that took place to come up with this advice on your website.
2. Please include any correspondence meeting Minutes etc with the
Tertiary Commission about this advice.
3.
Please share which services at tertiary and international learning
facilities were assessed to be “regulated services”. CVCs applied to
regulated services in part 3 of COVID-19 Public Health Response
(Protection Framework) Order 2021 | New Zealand Legislation.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Regarding
parts one and two of your request, per our responses to your previous
requests for similar information, much of the correspondence was not centrally stored
in a manner in which it could be easily retrieved. Any attempt to collate such
information would require a keyword search of the Ministry’s systems that would be
likely to generate a significant volume of ‘hits’ to search through in order to determine
if they were in scope.
Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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Decisions made regarding the introduction of a vaccine mandate involving education
were not made in isolation from other public health decisions during the pandemic.
The Ministry worked closely with the Ministry of Health throughout the COVID-19
pandemic, and evidence produced by the Ministry of Health heavily informed Ministry
decisions and papers throughout the period. Therefore, a significant number of
papers could have influenced decision-making on this matter.
As a result, I am refusing these parts of your request under section 18(f) of the Act,
as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation
or research.
In coming to this decision, as required by sections 18A and 18B of the Act, I have
considered whether the Ministry would be able to meet your request by seeking
further refinement or fixing a charge. However, we have determined that none of
these mechanisms would be appropriate, and any possible refinement would be
unlikely to reduce the volume of material significantly.
In accordance with section 15(1) of the Act, this letter is to advise you that a decision
has been made to refuse these parts of your request. However, so as to provide you
with some of the information that is important to you, the Ministry has determined that
we are able to provide you with key documents related to these parts of your request.
Ten key emails and their associated attachments have been identified in scope of
these parts of your request.
Some information will be withheld under the following sections of the Act:
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons.
• 9(2)(h), to maintain legal professional privilege.
We are currently finalising the documentation for release and our substantive
response will be with you without undue delay.
Regarding
part three of your request, under
the COVID-19 Public Health Response
(Protection Framework) Order 2021, a ‘regulated business or service’ was a business
or activity explicitly identified in the Order as presenting higher public health risk due
to factors such as indoor settings, close physical proximity, prolonged contact, or
large gatherings of people. These services were subject to specific operating rules,
including capacity limits and, at higher risk settings such as Red, the option or
requirement to operate using COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates (My Vaccine
Passes).
Tertiary education and international learning facilities commonly host a wide range of
activities alongside core teaching and learning. Under the Protection Framework,
core education delivery (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories, libraries, and
academic supervision) was not classified as a regulated service. These activities
were addressed through education-specific provisions in the Order, rather than
through the regulated-service regime.
education.govt.nz
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However, many ancillary or public-facing services operated on tertiary campuses
were assessed to fall within regulated-service categories. When these services were
provided on campus, they were regulated in the same way as equivalent services in
the wider community.
The following services, when operated at tertiary or international education facilities,
were treated as regulated businesses or services under the Protection Framework
Order:
• Food and drink services, such as campus cafés, dining halls, and bars
operating as hospitality venues
• Permitted events, including graduation ceremonies, large orientations,
conferences, performances, and other organised events meeting the legal
definition of an event
• Close-contact businesses, for example hairdressing, barbering, beauty
therapy, massage, physiotherapy, or similar clinics run as part of teaching
programmes and open to clients
• Gyms and indoor recreation facilities, including student or public fitness
centres
• Gatherings that exceeded ordinary instructional use, such as club events,
association meetings, or social activities involving larger numbers of people.
Vaccine passes were used in tertiary education settings not because those settings
were classified as “regulated services,” but because the COVID-19 Protection
Framework allowed for and incentivised their use across a wider range of settings.
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review the decision on your request, in
accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Emma Drysdale
Manager, Official and Parliamentary Information
Te Pou Rangatōpū | Corporate
education.govt.nz
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