Dear Ministry of Health,

I am seeking information relating to the role of The Ministry of Health in the present response to COVID-19, and all matters under the guise of COVID-19 response and management.

Is The Ministry of Health tasked with providing evidence-based policy advice to the government, the media, and the public? How is The Ministry of Health empowered to defend an evidence-based position, and push back with an evidence-based position, under pressure from government public health policies which are not evidence-based?

To what extent, and in what capacity, and by what means does The Ministry of Health provide evidence-based public health policy advice to the government, the media, and the public? What evidence-based public health policy advice has The Ministry of Health provided to the government and media? To what extent has the government abided by, or not abided by, such evidence-based advice?

To what extent, and in what capacity, and by what means have public health dictates by government influenced The Ministry of Health in advising the media and the public, in ways that may be influenced more by dictate than evidence? What government policy-based public health advice has The Ministry of Health provided to the media and the public, when such advice is not evidence-based? To what extent has The Ministry of Health abided by, or not abided by, such policy advice when it is not evidence-based?

How does The Ministry of Health manage conflicts between evidence-based policies and government imposed policies? What policies and practices are in place to manage conflicts between evidence-based policies and government imposed policies?

What safe-guards (policies, practices) are in place to prevent a feedback loop between The Ministry of Health and government developing a relationship that rewards or otherwise reinforces government policy dictates at the expense of evidence-based policies? By what metrics are such safe-guards assessed? How is The Ministry of Health performing in this regard?

What safe-guards (policies, practices) are in place to protect The Ministry of Health from "regulatory capture" (eg via advisory committees, industries, private interests) from developing, promoting, or otherwise reinforcing policies that are not evidence-based? By what metrics are such safe-guards assessed? How is The Ministry of Health performing in this regard?

What New Zealand data is The Ministry of Health monitoring, to ensure that COVID-19 inoculations are "safe and effective", as claimed? eg, is The Ministry of Health monitoring data relating to age stratified all-cause mortality on the basis of inoculation status? Is The Ministry of Health monitoring data relating to age-stratified diagnoses and deaths relating to myocarditis, pericarditis, heart attacks, strokes, excess deaths, sudden deaths, thrombocytopenia, embolisms, thromboses, or other clotting disorders, pregnancies and miscarriages, and other diagnoses of concern relating to COVID-19 inoculations, and correlating such data to inoculation status? If this type of data is being monitored, I would very much like to see it. If this type of data is not being monitored, then why is this type of data is not being monitored? How can The Ministry of Health confidently ensure the effectiveness of public health policies in New Zealand if The Ministry of Health is not continuously monitoring the most relevant and current data? If this type of data is not being monitored, what basis is there for asserting that COVID-19 inoculations are safe and effective in New Zealand?

Is it the role of The Ministry of Health to be actively monitoring this type of data, to ensure that inoculations in New Zealand are of net public health benefit? If that is not part of The Ministry of Health's role, whose role is it?

Thank you,
ASE 2021112701