133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
5 March 2025
Catherine Jamieson
By email: [FYI request #27389 email]
Ref:
H2025059383
Tēnā koe Catherine
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your follow up request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the
Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (the Ministry) on 13 January 2025 for information regarding
your previous response (H2024046068 refers) regarding COVID vaccines from New Zealand.
Please see answers to your request below:
1. Is the contracted freight forwarder that is referred to in this response Kuehne and Nagel?
Yes, the contracted freight forwarder that is referred to in OIA response H2024046068 is
Kuehne and Nagel.
2. Please confirm if that is the case. If there are multiple contracted freight forwarders
transporting Covid vaccines from New Zealand to the Pacific Islands please list them all.
Bilateral donation of COVID-19 vaccines to Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga, Samoa
and Tuvalu are transported by Kuehne and Nagel only.
3. Does 'global mechanisms' refer solely to Covax or are there other mechanisms?
Yes, this refers to solely COVAX.
4. To what countries has New Zealand donated Covid vaccines to through global
mechanisms?
The Ministry of Health is aware of donations from New Zealand via COVAX to Malawi, Niger,
South Sudan, Vanuatu, Mauritania, Cameroon, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands, Samoa, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Fiji.
5. Has New Zealand has donated Pfizer Covid vaccines through the global mechanisms
referred to in H2024046068 or just other COVID-19 vaccines products? If so please
provide the number of Pfizer doses by vaccine type (eg adult monovalent purple cap,
adult monovalent grey cap, bivalent, paediatric, infant) that have been donated through a
global mechanism.
New Zealand has not donated Pfizer vaccines through global mechanisms. Vaccines donated
through COVAX were AstraZeneca and Janssen. Information regarding these donations is
publicly available through the following links:
•
www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/OIA/OIA-2021-22/OIA-27892-NZs-particiation-in-the-
COVAX-program.pdf.
•
https://fyi.org.nz/request/17271/response/67094/attach/html/4/H202114701.pdf.ht
ml
6. Where New Zealand donates Covid vaccines through global mechanisms, does any of
the inventory hail from vaccines that have previously been receipted into New Zealand
and not used in New Zealand? Or have all vaccines donated through the global
mechanisms gone directly to the donee country without being receipted into New
Zealand?
All donations via global mechanisms (COVAX) were distributed directly to recipient countries
and not from stock that was receipted and unused in New Zealand.
7. If the answer to the first question in the above paragraph is yes with regard to Pfizer
vaccines, please provide by batch the number of doses donated through global
mechanisms from Pfizer vaccines receipted into New Zealand.
Please refer to the previous response.
8. Please provide any relevant indemnities New Zealand is party to with regard to both
bilateral donations and donations through global mechanisms.”
Donation agreements provided suppliers with oversight of vaccine donations, requirements for
the safe delivery and storage of vaccines, support for pharmacovigilance, and indemnification
by the Crown, through the Minister of Finance, for claims arising from vaccine use in certain
donee countries. Information which may be of interest to you is publicly available through the
following links:
• Indemnification for bilateral donations to Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Samoa and Tokelau:
www.parliament.nz/resource/enNZ/PAP_111383/ffc692780e6c03ac2fc34e62e2e1
89509bd1ccce
• Indemnity request for donations through COVAX:
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2022-04/oia-20210435.pdf
• Page 122-131: Treasury Report: Donating Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to Fiji:
indemnity request from MOH/MFAT for Pfizer:
Official Information Act Response
20210554 - Request for 41 documents - September 2021 - Received 18 Nov 2021
- Published Mar 2022 - The Treasury
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I trust this information fulfils your request. If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with
us, including this decision, please feel free to contact the OIA Services Team on:
[email address].
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
Dr Andrew Old
Deputy Director-General Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
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