Kia ora A Goodwin,

  

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), received by the Ministry of Health - Manatû Hauora on 2 May 2026.
You requested:

 

"At paragraph 320 of the Phase 2 Covid Inquiry report it is noted:
 

‘Around November 2020, the Ministry of Health established a workstream as
part of the National Immunisation programme, eventually known as the
Vaccine Safety Surveillance and Research Group, to manage and report on
the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.304’

 

Please provide agendas and minutes of meetings, memos issued, publications
and reports by, and communications to or from the Vaccine Safety
Surveillance and Research Group.

 

Please provide the names of members of this group."
 

The reference number for your request is H2026082253. We will endeavour to
respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than
29 May 2026 being 20 working days after the day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of
an extension of that timeframe.

 

If you have any queries regarding your request, please feel free to
contact the OIA Services Team on [1][email address]. If any
additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account. 

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [2][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.

 

 

Ngâ mihi, 
 
OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora

 

M[3]inistry of Health information releases

 

 

 

 

 

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References

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2. mailto:[email address]
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https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...

Tçnâ koe A Goodwin,

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act) to the Ministry of Health – Manatû Hauora on 2 May 2026. You
requested:

 

"At paragraph 320 of the Phase 2 Covid Inquiry report it is noted:

'Around November 2020, the Ministry of Health established a workstream as
part of the National Immunisation programme, eventually known as the
Vaccine Safety Surveillance and Research Group, to manage and report on
the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.304'

Please provide agendas and minutes of meetings, memos issued, publications
and reports by, and communications to or from the Vaccine Safety
Surveillance and Research Group.

Please provide the names of members of this group."

 

The information you seek is held by Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora. For
this reason, your request is being transferred to their agency under
section 14(b)(i) of the Act. You can expect a response from Te Whatu Ora
in due course ([email address]). 

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review the Ministry’s decision to transfer your request. The Ombudsman may
be contacted by email at: [email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.

 

Ngâ mihi,

  

OIA Services Team

Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora
 

M[1]inistry of Health information releases

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References

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https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...

Tçnâ koe,

 

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.

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

Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
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received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
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References

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https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...

Kia ora A Goodwin

Thank you for your request for official information, received on
13/05/2026 for: 

At paragraph 320 of the Phase 2 Covid Inquiry report it is noted:
'Around November 2020, the Ministry of Health established a workstream as
part of the National Immunisation programme, eventually known as the
Vaccine Safety Surveillance and Research Group, to manage and report on
the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.304'
Please provide agendas and minutes of meetings, memos issued, publications
and reports by, and communications to or from the Vaccine Safety
Surveillance and Research Group.
Please provide the names of members of this group.

We have interpreted your request as seeking information about the Vaccine
Safety Surveillance and Research (VSSR) team, which was a team set up
within the Ministry of Health in 2020 before transferring to the National
Immunisation Programme (NIP) in Health New Zealand in 2022. It was
initially known as Post-Event, before becoming VSSR and eventually Vaccine
Safety. 
 
As stated in the Phase Two report, this team worked with the Centre for
Adverse Reactions monitoring and were secretariat for the Covid Vaccine
Immunisation Safety Monitoring Board, whose minutes are available online.
They also worked on the Post Vaccine Symptom Check surveys, amongst a
range of other work. 
 
It should also be noted this team had their own shared inbox, which sent
and received thousands of emails over the course of several years.
Therefore, could you please refine the communications part of your request
to a more specific timeframe or an area of work this team were responsible
for? This is in order for us to collate the information in a manner that
is feasibly retrievable. As currently worded, we would have to refuse the
information in that part of your request due to substantial collation. 

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. 

Please let us know by COB 20 May. If we do not hear from you by then, we
will proceed to make a decision on your request as is stands. 

Ngā mihi
 

Pamela

Government Services (OIA)

[1][email address]

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message

References

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