Emails on domestic vaccine passes
Al made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
The request was refused by Ministry of Health.
From: Al
Hi all,
In submitting this request - i've considered the timeframe i am asking for so i've submitted it to the Ministry of Health rather than Health NZ as it didn't exist then - apologies if that is incorrect.
I would like to be provided with emails that were received by or sent within Health from between 1 July 2021 to December 24 2021 with any discussion within them on domestic vaccine passes.
I'm interesting in emails that discuss the implementation of, and the recommendations made to cabinet, including commentary once the domestic vaccine pass was introduced.
I am not requesting any information on the use of - or discussion of - the international version of the covid vaccine travel pass.
Thank you for your help,
Al Johnson
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora
Thank you for your request for official information. The reference number
for your request is: H2023021908
As required under the Official Information Act 1982, Manatū Hauora will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. If you'd like to calculate the
timeframe, you can use the Ombudsman's online calculator
here: [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
M[2]inistry of Health information releases
U[3]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
2. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
3. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al,
Thank you for your request for official information, received on 16 March
2023 for:
“I would like to be provided with emails that were received by or sent
within Health from between 1 July 2021 to December 24 2021 with any
discussion within them on domestic vaccine passes.
I'm interesting in emails that discuss the implementation of, and the
recommendations made to cabinet, including commentary once the domestic
vaccine pass was introduced.
I am not requesting any information on the use of - or discussion of -
the international version of the covid vaccine travel pass.”
We are contacting you in accordance with section 18B of the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) as your request, as it is currently worded,
is for a very large volume of information. Your request may be refused
under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research. This would place an
unreasonable degree of strain on the team responsible and would interfere
with the day-to-day workings of the Ministry. Therefore, we suggest you
limit your request within a shorter time period.
Please note, under section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982, any
clarification or amendments made to a request within seven days after the
date it is received, that request may be treated as a new request and the
time limit for the response restarts.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services Team
Manatû Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: Al
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the response - to reduce the emails you need to search on I can:
- exclude emails around the technical implementation of the build of the domestic vaccine pass. This means no emails from IT teams that are primarily concerned with tech.
Does that help with the scope of the request at all?
Yours sincerely,
Al
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al,
Thank you for your request for official information received on 16
March 2023 requesting:
emails that were received by or sent within Health from between 1 July
2021 to December 24 2021 with any discussion within them on domestic
vaccine passes.
I'm interested in emails that discuss the implementation of, and the
recommendations made to cabinet, including commentary once the domestic
vaccine pass was introduced.
I am not requesting any information on the use of - or discussion of -
the international version of the covid vaccine travel pass.
On 27 March 2023, you clarified your request to be for:
- exclude emails around the technical implementation of the build of the
domestic vaccine pass. This means no emails from IT teams that are
primarily concerned with tech.
The Ministry of Health has decided to extend the period of time available
to respond to your request under section 15A of the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act) as the request is for and necessitates a search through
a large quantity of information and meeting the original time limit would
unreasonably interfere with the operations of the Ministry.
You can now expect a response to your request on, or before, 25 May 2023.
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 Team
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al,
Please find attached a response to your official information act request
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: Al
Dear all,
Thank you for the reply.
Can I please request emails around the specific CV-TAG advice that under 18s be excluded from vaccination mandates including domestic vaccine passes?
It looks like they had an initial discussion and recommendation in November 2021 according to their meeting minutes, then a memo was sent reiterating that advice on the 9th of December 2021 to the Director General of Health. And they revisited the issue in their January 2022 meeting.
In those timeframes I request any emails on the discussion of vaccine passes and mandates to the under 18s.
Yours sincerely,
Al
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al
Thank you for your request for official information, received by Manatū
Hauora (the Ministry of Health) on 15 May 2023 for:
"Can I please request emails around the specific CV-TAG advice that
under 18s be excluded from vaccination mandates including domestic
vaccine passes?
It looks like they had an initial discussion and recommendation in
November 2021 according to their meeting minutes, then a memo was sent
reiterating that advice on the 9th of December 2021 to the Director
General of Health. And they revisited the issue in their January 2022
meeting.
In those timeframes I request any emails on the discussion of vaccine
passes and mandates to the under 18s."
We are contacting you in accordance with section 18B of the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) as your request, as it is currently worded,
requires a search through a very large volume of information. Your
request may be refused under section 18(f) of the Act as the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or
research. This would place an unreasonable degree of strain on the team
responsible and would interfere with the day-to-day workings of the
Ministry. Therefore, we suggest you limit your request within a shorter
time period.
Please note, under section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982, any
clarification or amendments made to a request within seven days after the
date it is received, that request may be treated as a new request and the
time limit for the response restarts.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
From: Al
Hi everyone,
The response to narrow the scope came as a surprise - I consciously kept the timeframe to a maximum of 3 months (which includes within it a holiday period that would presumably have significantly less emails) on a very specific topic - emails that discuss domestic vaccine passes and mandates to the under 18s only. I even gave more context of the CV-TAG meeting minutes with that time frame to support request in case it was helpful
How is that scope too broad?
Yours sincerely,
Al
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al
Manatû Hauora has conducted a search for the emails within scope of your
request for within the specified time frames. The search terms used were
as follows: “vaccine passes” OR “vaccine pass” AND “mandate” AND “child”
or “children” or “paediatric”.
This search produced over 45,000 results, each of which would require
individual assessment of each piece of correspondence to discern its
contents. This would place an unreasonable degree of strain on the team
responsible and would interfere with the day-to-day workings of the
Ministry. Therefore, your request may be refused under section 18(f) of
the Act as the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research. If you are able to assist us with
narrowing the scope of your request, we may be able to provide you with
information you are interested in.
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services Team
Manatû Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Al <[FOI #22121 email]>
Sent: Monday, 22 May 2023 16:10
To: OIA Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Refinement of your request for information, ref: H2023025432
Hi everyone,
The response to narrow the scope came as a surprise - I consciously kept
the timeframe to a maximum of 3 months (which includes within it a holiday
period that would presumably have significantly less emails) on a very
specific topic - emails that discuss domestic vaccine passes and mandates
to the under 18s only. I even gave more context of the CV-TAG meeting
minutes with that time frame to support request in case it was helpful
How is that scope too broad?
Yours sincerely,
Al
show quoted sections
From: Al
Hi everyone,
To help limit the scope - the original request puts it in context of the CV-TAG advice and how it was discussed.
Could we try the request within that scope - that means it could also include useful keywords around CV TAG in both the content or address fields - including the members of CV-TAG and who they often sent their advisory group memos (for instance Jo Gibbs, Astrid Koorneef, Maree Roberts, Caroline McElnay, Ashely Bloomfield).
Please let me know,
Al
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Al
Please find attached a letter regarding your request for information
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
U[2]nite against COVID-19
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
2. https://covid19.govt.nz/
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence