133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
17 March 2023
N Brittain
By email: [FYI request #21849 email]
Ref:
H2023020950
Tēnā koe N Brittain
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your follow up request to Manatū Hauora (the Ministry of Health) on 24 February
2023 (H2023020509 refers). You requested:
“Ministry of Health provide the age & vaccination status of deaths within 28 days of being
reported as a case. The total deaths in this category are currently 3864. Where Covid 19
is the underlying cause of deaths only the age & ethnicity is provided. The total deaths in
this category are currently 1599.
I would like to know the vaccination status where COVID 19 is officially coded as the
underlying cause. Please advise the status of:
No dose of Covid 19 vaccine
Single Covid 19 vaccinated
Fully Covid 19 vaccinated
Booster Covid 19 vaccinated”
The table below sets out deaths, by vaccination status, where COVID-19 was the underlying
cause as of 6 March 2023.
In order to avoid revealing sensitive information about potentially identifiable individuals in our
data, we apply two data confidentiality methods (perturbation and suppression) to any data that
is not already released as exact counts on the website.
Perturbation is adding random noise to data, and suppression is not providing data in situations
where doing so could compromise confidentiality. For data that is not already provided exactly
on the website:
• All values between 1 and 5 are suppressed.
• Zero values are provided exactly, except for in sensitive categories where a zero value
may be suppressed to protect other low values.
• Values of 6 and above are perturbed using fixed random rounding to base 3
• (FRR3). This entails rounding values to neighbouring multiples of 3. For example, 11
may be rounded to 12 or 9.
FRR3 is a best-practice confidentiality method recommended by Stats NZ. For more
information, visit:
www.data.govt.nz/toolkit/privacy-and-security/understanding-data-
confidentiality/data-confidentiality-principles-and-methods-report/.
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
Manatū Hauora website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-
official-information-act-requests. Nāku noa, nā
Louise Karageorge
Group Manager, Intelligence, Surveillance and Knowledge Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
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