Cost of Cominarty vaccines
Virginia Crawford made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
Response to this request is long overdue. By law Ministry of Health should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Virginia Crawford
Dear Ministry of Health,
Could you please let me know the overall New Zealand dollar value of payments made (or to be made) to Pfizer for the supply of 10 million Cominarty vaccines.
Could you also please let me know the estimated cost (including transport and storage) of administering these vaccines to the population (reportedly five million).
Yours faithfully,
Virginia Crawford
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for official information received on 29 March
2021 for:
“Could you please let me know the overall New Zealand dollar value of
payments made (or to be made) to Pfizer for the supply of 10 million
Cominarty vaccines.
Could you also please let me know the estimated cost (including transport
and storage) of administering these vaccines to the population (reportedly
five million).”
The Ministry's reference number for your request is: H202103703.
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Ministry will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 29 April 2021, being 20
working days after the day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request within this time frame, we
will notify you of an extension of that time frame.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [1][email address]
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Ministry of Health
Kia ora Virginia
Thank you for your request for official information, received on 29 March
2020 for information pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Ministry of Health is currently finalising your response however we
require to extend the period of time available to respond to your request
under section 15A of the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) as
further consultation is required.
You can now expect a response to your request on, or before, 6 May 2021.
You have the right, under section 28 of the Act, to ask the Ombudsman to
review my decision to extend the time available to respond to your
request.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
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Ministry of Health
Kia ora Virginia
Please find attached the response to your request for official
information.
Nga mihi,
OIA Services
Government Services
Office of the Director-General
Ministry of Health
E: [email address]
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Brendon Jonson left an annotation ()
Surely, in the circumstances of this case, the withholding of this information is far outweighed by the desirability of letting the tax-paying public of New Zealand know the level to which their government has indebted them to Pfizer. After all, it is the tax payer that will have to repay this debt and it should not be kept secret from them.
Paul Jones left an annotation ()
Unicef has recently put together a dashboard that includes dose pricing for countries here https://www.unicef.org/supply/covid-19-v...
As of this writing it has the following details for price paid per dosage in USD for Pfizer Comirnaty.
African Union $6.75
European Commission $14.70 & $18.90
Tunisia $7.00
USA $19.50
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Virginia
Further to the response provided to you on 6 May 2021 (H202103703 refers),
the Ministry of Health stands by its decision to withhold information
relating to the cost of purchasing the Pfizer vaccine and other costs
associated with administering the vaccine rollout. However, please note
that the following information has been released publicly which may be of
interest to you:
• The funding allocated in Budget 21 to the COVID-19
vaccination programme over two years, covering vaccines and programme
infrastructure – information which is already available at:
[1]https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/gove...
• The price per dose for accredited vaccination health
care facilities for administration of the Pfizer vaccine - information
which is already available at:
[2]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
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: [email address] or by calling 0800 802
602.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services Team
[3]Ministry of Health information releases
[4]Unite against COVID-19
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Statement of confidentiality: This e-mail message and any accompanying
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legal privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate,
distribute or copy this message or attachments.
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immediately and delete this message.
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/gove...
2. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
3. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
4. https://covid19.govt.nz/
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From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Virginia
The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) has been in contact with the Office
of the Ombudsman regarding your complaint following the Ministry’s
decision on your request of 29 March 2021 under the Official Information
Act 1982 (H202103703 refers):
“Could you please let me know the overall New Zealand dollar value of
payments made (or to be made) to Pfizer for the supply of 10 million
Cominarty vaccines.
Could you also please let me know the estimated cost (including transport
and storage) of administering these vaccines to the population (reportedly
five million).”
At the time of your request, the information requested was considered
Budget sensitive and could not be released until Budget Day on 20 May
2021.
The following media release on Budget Day provides details of the $1.4
billion the Government had allocated to the COVID-19 vaccination
programme. This includes $964.3 million for manufacturer advance purchase
agreements and the COVAX facility. The remaining $423.2 million was
allocated to delivering the vaccination programme, including funding for
DHBs and community immunisation centres to administer the vaccine. $66.3
million was assigned to specialist equipment, vaccine storage facilities
and transport:
[1]www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-guarantees-free-vaccines-every-new-zealander
The Ministry trusts this information fulfils the second part of your
request.
We understand the Ombudsman is still considering the Ministry’s decision
on the first part of your request and will make comment in due course.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services Team
[2]Ministry of Health information releases
[3]Unite against COVID-19
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Statement of confidentiality: This e-mail 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.
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This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared
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References
Visible links
1. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/gover...
2. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
3. https://covid19.govt.nz/
hide quoted sections
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