COVID - Vaccines and Deaths - successor to RT-268 (HNZ00033452) and RT-611 (HNZ00052991)
Chris Johnston made this Official Information request to Health New Zealand
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for Chris Johnston to read a recent response and update the status.
From: Chris Johnston
Dear Health New Zealand,
Under the Official Information Act 1982 I request three aggregated tables. This is the conceptual successor to RT-268 (HNZ00033452) and RT-611 (HNZ00052991), specified below so it can be actioned independently.
(A) DEATHS TABLE
Long-format, one row per non-empty combination of:
- Month of death — YYYY-MM
- Age at death band — 0–20, 21–40, 41–60, 61–80, 81–100, 100+
- Last COVID-19 dose number — 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (0 = no prior dose)
- Days between last vaccination and death — 0–7, 8–14, 15–28, 29–60, 61–90, 91–180, 181–365, 366+, N/A (N/A where dose number = 0)
- Sex — Male, Female, Another gender, Unknown
- Ethnicity (prioritised, MoH standard) — Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian, European or Other, Unknown
- Priority-group eligibility under which the last dose was administered — aged-care resident or staff; healthcare worker; severely immunocompromised (MoH definition); disability sector (Sequencing Framework Group 2); general population by age; other; unknown; N/A where dose=0
- Underlying cause of death, ICD-10 chapter, with U07.1, U07.2, V01–X59 (accidents) and X60–X84 (intentional self-harm) on separate lines rather than pooled — chapters I (with U07.1, U07.2 split), II, IV, VI, IX, X, XIV, XVIII, XX (with V01–X59 and X60–X84 split), Other (any chapter not listed)
- Count — integer; cells <6 reported as "<6"
Temporal window: deaths from 2019-07 onwards through the most recent extract date.
(B) DENOMINATOR (VACCINATED PERSON-TIME) TABLE
Long-format, one row per non-empty combination of:
- Month — YYYY-MM
- Age band — as in (A)
- Sex — as in (A)
- Ethnicity — as in (A)
- Dose number of the most recent dose received as of any day in that month — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
- Priority-group eligibility under which the most recent dose was administered — as in (A)
- Days since most recent dose — 0–7, 8–14, 15–28, 29–60, 61–90, 91–180, 181–365, 366+
- Person-days — integer; cells <6 reported as "<6"
A person crossing a days-since-dose bin boundary mid-month splits person-time proportionally. A person receiving a new dose mid-month contributes the remaining days to the new dose number's 0–7 day bin.
Temporal window: vaccinations from 2020-12 onwards through the most recent extract date.
If full person-time accounting is infeasible, end-of-month head-counts split into the same bins is an acceptable substitute.
(C) PRE-VACCINE BASELINE MORTALITY TABLE
Long-format, one row per non-empty combination of:
- Year — 2015–2020 inclusive
- Age band — as in (A)
- Sex — as in (A)
- Ethnicity — as in (A)
- Underlying cause of death, ICD-10 chapter — same scheme as (A)
- Count — integer; cells <6 reported as "<6"
Format: CSV or XLSX, UTF-8.
Suppression: <6 cell suppression as used in RT-268 and RT-611 is acceptable; please indicate which cells have been suppressed or rounded.
BASIS AND ACCEPTABILITY
This request is reasonable under the OIA because:
- Data aggregation is explicitly allowed by the Ombudsman. You are required.
- This OIA requires aggregating from similar IT systems and datasets for previous OIAs already responded to by HealthNZ. Precedent.
- I am a tax resident and citizen permanently residing in NZ.
- These aggregation effort is not substantial for a data analyst familiar with the relevant systems and/or the data warehouse infrastructure HealthNZ has invested in.
- The NHI number Tues all systems together for easy aggregation of datasets.
- Providing this data is of high public interest and should already be tabulated, or able to be aggregated, as part of normal operations for safety monitoring as part of HealthNZ’s regulated roles and obligations.
- Privacy is assured by having a limit of 5 for reporting in an aggregated cell. This is standard practice and has been undertaken and complied with by many government agencies for OIAs including HealthNZ.
- The frequency of such follow-up OIA requests from myself is low and appropriate to the topic and analysis needs. Any overlap with other requests is primarily due to the delay in response by HealthNZ to those requests.
- It is worth noting that the timeframe in previous OIAs from the data extract date to the response date is often only a few days. This indicates what is possible once a decision has been made to respond.
WAYS OF WORKING
If HealthNZ has any questions or concerns regarding this OIA then you are required to Consult with me. It would be a sign of good faith, if the need arises, to consult as soon as possible so that HealthNZ has the best opportunity to meet its response timeline.
I look forward to HealthNZ’s prompt response within the regulated timeframe of 20 days.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Johnston
From: hnzOIA
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
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From: hnzOIA
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Kia ora Chris,
Thank you for your request for information on 24 May 2026. Please find our
response attached.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][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 [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi,
Michael
Government Services (OIA)
[3][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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1. mailto:[Health New Zealand request email]
2. file:///tmp/
3. mailto:[email address]
From: Chris Johnston
Dear hnzOIA,
I do not believe that you have Consulted with me as required under the legislation.
Without giving up my rights for an actual Consultation, could you please reconsider this entire OIA without the priority group that you say HealthNZ does not hold.
Please note that this OIA simply asks for datasets that have been supplied by HealthNZ before and is in accordance with the NZ Ombudsman’s data aggregation rulings. Aggregation cannot be limited to in dataset, database if operational system. This is especially the case when much of this data is already in a HealthNZ accessible data warehouse.
Can you please provide Records that show that the underlying dataset required to answer this revised OIA are already in a data warehouse. For example, this could be in the form of (but not limited to) an inventory of the datasets in the data warehouse(s) and/or a privacy/data governance sign-off or audit of the data feed from the operational system to the data warehouse. A data cataloguing system like Informatica might also provide such information.
Please reconsider your decision on this OIA based on the light Consultation above.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Johnston
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Chris,
Under the Official Information Act (the OIA), consultation with a
requester is generally required where a request may be refused under
section 18(f) (substantial collation or research). In such cases, section
18B requires agencies to consider whether consulting with the person who
made the request would assist that person to make the request in a form
that would remove the reason for the refusal.
However, requester consultation is not typically required where the
information requested is not held by the agency, and there is no reason to
believe it is held by another agency subject to the OIA (section 18(g)).
This is the situation in relation to your request.
We also note that the Ombudsman has previously upheld Health NZ’s position
that there is no obligation to create new information to respond to
requests when the underlying COVID-19 datasets do not allow the
information to be extracted without the application of complex skills by
specialist staff, and that Health NZ is entitled to refuse such
information under section 18(g) of the OIA.
For information about how immunisation data is recorded and stored, please
refer to the Aotearoa Immunisation Register Privacy Impact Assessment,
particularly pages 9 and
11: [1]Aotearoa-Immunisation-Register-Privacy-Impact-Assessment.pdf
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 [2]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngâ mihi
Emmie
Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
------------------- Original Message -------------------
From: Chris Johnston <[FOI #34774 email]>;
Received: Tue Jun 23 2026 22:28:11 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
To: HNZ OIA <[email address]>; <[email address]>;
Subject: Re: Response to your request for official information
(HNZ00203894) CRM:0277095
Dear hnzOIA,
I do not believe that you have Consulted with me as required under the
legislation.
Without giving up my rights for an actual Consultation, could you please
reconsider this entire OIA without the priority group that you say
HealthNZ does not hold.
Please note that this OIA simply asks for datasets that have been supplied
by HealthNZ before and is in accordance with the NZ Ombudsman’s data
aggregation rulings. Aggregation cannot be limited to in dataset,
database if operational system. This is especially the case when much of
this data is already in a HealthNZ accessible data warehouse.
Can you please provide Records that show that the underlying dataset
required to answer this revised OIA are already in a data warehouse. For
example, this could be in the form of (but not limited to) an inventory of
the datasets in the data warehouse(s) and/or a privacy/data governance
sign-off or audit of the data feed from the operational system to the data
warehouse. A data cataloguing system like Informatica might also provide
such information.
Please reconsider your decision on this OIA based on the light
Consultation above.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Johnston
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora Chris,
Thank you for your request for information on 24 May 2026. Please
find our
response attached.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at
[1][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 [2]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Ngâ mihi,
Michael
Government Services (OIA)
[3][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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1. [3]mailto:[Health New Zealand request email]
2. [4]file:///tmp/
3. [5]mailto:[email address]
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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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4. file:///tmp/
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6. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
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