133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T +64 4 496 2000
W www.medsafe.govt.nz
2 July 2021
Paul Jones
By email:
[FYI request #15758 email]
Ref:
H202107100
Dear Paul Jones
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health (the Ministry) on 11 June for information relating to the Medsafe COVID 19 weekly safety
report #10.
You specifically requested:
1) Would you provide redacted copies of the CARM report for those two cases which first
removals all personally identifiable information from these reports.
Medsafe has published line listings of all cases reported to Covid CARM, which includes month of
vaccination, age, gender, dose number and preferred medical terms, providing any further
information could put privacy at risk.
2) Provide the reasoning CARM and Medsafe have determined the deaths not to be caused
by the "administration of Comirnaty".
The two elderly individuals had many co-morbidities before they received their vaccination, which
were found to be the likely cause of death.
3) Provide a definition of what "administration" means with respect to (2).
The Comirnaty vaccine is administered via the intramuscular route by means of a syringe and the
content of the vaccine deposited into vascular muscle tissue, which is preferably done in the left
or right deltoid.
4) Does the definition of "administration" include a restriction to a specific time frame, eg:
from time from injection until 20 minutes after?
The definition administration does not include a time frame.
I trust this information fulfils your request. 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.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests. Yours sincerely
Chris James
Group Manager
Medsafe
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