Part 2 - how domestic vaccine passes were implemented

The confusion over what vaccine passes were designed to achieve and the lack of any assessment or what success with their use would mean

Read part 1 of how domestic vaccine passes started.

This OIA with emails between the Ministry of Health and Apple and vendor Mattr show that in mid-September 2021 implementation work was urgently being done over weekends to get the pass working in time for it to be used.

A presentation in that OIA dated the 24th of September (which was also the date of a joint briefing I discussed in part 1 to both the then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and then Covid-19 Minister Hipkins on how domestic vaccine passes should be used) has a problem statement specifically calling out that ‘young and healthy’ vaccination rates were behind the rest of the population and that a pass should support motivating vaccinations and providing a public health control at large scale events such as summer festivals:

It also mentioned that this presentation was sent to the Prime Minister.

The rationale for domestic vaccine passes in the presentation was for people who were known to be at the least amount of risk for severe disease (which would require hospitalisation - which was a key reason fo the elimination strategy - preventing hospitalisations).

It showed at 1 point the Covid tracer app was considered as a place to store a vaccine pass but the privacy aspects of the app versus the need for a secure identity for the pass didn’t match (including the fact that the use of Bluetooth meant both Apple and Google restricted personal details in the 1st place). This OIA shows the progress.

The My Covid Record website ended up being the place to log in to view and save to a digital wallet your vaccine pass:

Sections on verifiers (to scan the pass for authenticity) even explicitly mention event providers such as Ticketek.

The OIA also says this work followed on from a digitised central health record for New Zealanders My Health Account and the work underpinning the “HIRA health project”. But to actually create a way to log on and make sure the technology was secure they had to further leverage the Digital Identity Trust Framework (going through the Select Committee process at the time).

The announcement of the domestic vaccine pass & it’s purpose

Domestic vaccine passes were announced by the Prime Minister on the 5th of October 2021 - for summer events and they were ‘consulting with other industries’.

Hospitality ended up lobbying for the passes in an effort to remove Covid restrictions on gathering sizes and social distancing. The CE of Hospitality NZ said "We support vaccination certificates, because we're desperate to open, but the government must pass a law that protects us from legal action and costs”.

The New Zealand Council of Civil Liberties (NZCCL) submitted feedback but were unable to learn anything about the process or engagement that was underway - they ended up making a complaint to the Ombudsman over it.

A key point NZCCL made was they needed to know more in order “..to judge over time whether the limitation has been proportionate or not, we will need to compare the benefits gained against the negative consequences.” The legislation and requirements again (like that detailed in the mask series) had no metrics or assessment to determine if the intention, whatever it was - was met. And the stated intention was….still publicly muddy.

An October news article quotes Associate Professor in bioethics at Otago University, Angela Ballantyne questioning the reason for the passes: “It's not clear to me whether this is primarily designed to be a carrot that gets us up to 90 per cent or a stick after we get to 90 per cent to encourage those who remain unvaccinated to get vaccinated.”

A University of Waikato brief on the implications of the domestic vaccine pass to Māori concurred: “In Aotearoa New Zealand it is not entirely clear whether the main goal of the domestic pass is to increase vaccination levels, or stop the transmission of COVID-19 by reducing exposure to unvaccinated individuals, or both.”

However the 27th of September Cabinet paper I went through in part 1 - is clearly based on the assumption very high vaccination rates would cut transmission and support contact tracing - it was still maintaining the myth of Covid zero.

Initial communications were drafted as talking points which further confirmed “We are currently working with the events and hospitality industry to determine when proof of vaccinations might be required for entry to events and venues, and to ensure the technology is fit for purpose.” The comms also stated it will reduce risk of the virus spreading.

Lets remember too that 2 days before the domestic passes were introduced in December 2021 - the push to get a booster started in earnest because the primary series which the domestic vaccine pass relied on - wasn’t enough protection due to waning effectiveness.

Implementation of passes

A contract with Mattr who the Ministry had been in talks around the travel certificate was signed on the 13th of October.

The recommendation for how domestic vaccine passes could be used was first formally proposed to Minister Hipkins and the Prime Minister on the 17th of September.

In a further joint briefing dated the 14th of October on domestic use of covid-19 certificates in high risk settings it defined high risk events as over 1000 people “especially while COVID-19 vaccination rates are lower than optimal.”

It also gave the reason for no prior infection as part of the passes was due to:
“…there has not been widespread COVID-19 infection in New Zealand, meaning this would not be available for most people. This may need to be revisited in future.” The briefing even went on to state that there were less than 200 people in the entire country who could be considered exempt from the requirement for vaccination.

The Cabinet paper to implement their use in late October mentioned it was “...preferable that all eligible people in New Zealand would have sufficient opportunity to be vaccinated before a CVC [covid vaccination certificate] requirement is introduced, to avoid inequitable prevention of access to events to those who have not had the opportunity to be vaccinated due to the staged eligibility of the roll out.”

Events again - and this must be in part where the thinking to do the October Super Saturday vaxathon came from.

But was the gap between doses changing from 8 to then 6 weeks to a standard 3 weeks for people under 30 - which was done in early October 2021 - in order for passes to be implemented?

On that note - I mentioned this memo from the head of the Covid vaccination program to Covid Ministers in part 1 from the 26th of August “…the introduction of these requirements varies and appears to be in part to manage the potential for transmission but also to incentivise vaccination.”

This memo was 9 days after CV-TAG meeting minutes show a request to remove references to increasing dosing intervals from public communications.

Back to the October Cabinet paper - it also noted ”Currently, the disproportionately lower vaccination levels for Māori means that limiting access to domestic facilities based on vaccination status would have a greater effect on the personal freedom of Māori on an individual and collective basis.” Equity schmiqty.

Cabinet did not go with the option to use vaccine passes at high risk events that was proposed by the Ministry of Health.

They went with wide spread application and it was required to be used in any close contact business such as hairdressers, salons, gyms and cafes, bars and restaurants etc.

Domestic vaccine passes were implemented under urgency in Parliament days before they became officially required on midnight the 3rd of December 2021.

How vaccine passes were used

A document prior to their usage providing further advice on prohibited settings noted that vaccine passes should be prohibited at life saving and essential services. Unlike Canada vaccine passes were not required on public transport in New Zealand and this was due to the fact people could be taking them to hospital or medical services. And in the case of airlines to fly to and access specialist services. This was agreed to - although Hipkins noted on the document it did not make sense (but this is why domestic air travel had the ability to test in lieu of the vaccine pass - interesting).

It also went on to call out not limiting access to government services. But most if not all government services limited access based on vaccine passes - including at local government levels. Libraries across New Zealand consistently required vaccine passes to access them when they were introduced. All of which came at a cost - an OIA to Nelson council showed they’d spent $21k by that OIA in just checking them!

In fact vaccine passes ended up being required to stay in Department of Conversation (DoC) huts while hiking on remote trails - although the DOC policy has been removed from their website - an OIA request on it found they undertook an assessment under the Heath & Safety Act - a requirement for businesses and the basis for many workplace policies barring people without vaccine passes.

DoC decided to exclude people without passes due to “…this Act requires DOC to take all reasonable, practicable steps to eliminate or otherwise minimise the risk of infection and transmission of COVID-19 to our workers… and to make sure that the health and safety of other people including visitors at the Department’s huts and campsites are not put at risk from anything else at the workplace.”

A December 2022 OIA to Health NZ (who appears to have taken over where the Ministry of Health left off) asked about the basis of both mandates and domestic passes and got a response that “…both policies were intended to reduce transmission and to protect vulnerable populations.” It referred to the Covid-19 science page by the Ministry of Health and made specific mention of a study that used the word “estimated”. The week prior to this OIA response - the latest science update was incorporating more information on the latest variant and issues of waning vaccine effectiveness.

Further references by the Ministry of Health in regard to other issues state they are keeping on top of the science as it progresses - is such an uncertain atmosphere - how were mandates and vaccine passes ethical?

For reasons of equity it seems the Ministry of Health had a phone line to order a certificate if you couldn’t use My Covid Record and the Ministry also paid pharmacies to generate and print them for people.

The end of domestic vaccine passes

The verifier app to scan the pass had an OIA that showed higher uptake right after they were introduced then it rapidly tailed off.

The hospitality industry who had lobbied for their use - was by April clamouring for them to be gone.

The NZCCL in their initial feedback had also pertinently pointed out “Finally, the government has not been clear about what the criteria are for when the certification system will be ended.”

Were the passes to stop transmissions or incentivise vaccination or both? Did it cut transmission? Was it solely to get the ‘young and healthy’ to be nudged to be vaccinated? Did it? Why was it important they get vaccinated? Did nudging this vaccination have any effect on GP visits or hospitalisations? Were Māori adversely affected by their introduction?

Even prior to vaccine passes - vaccination intent research and nudging was being looking into by research group TRA commissioned to DPMC to improve compliance. with alert levels (and later to the Ministry around vaccine messaging) noted “Youth represent the greatest risk of non-compliance, and are less likely to respond to community-based messages. Social positive social norming among youth, not just the whole population, will be important.”

Hmmm.

I can’t find any clear metrics or assessment to answer to these questions.

This is similar to mask mandates about how the success and end points were decided and being tracked. The answer I got back from DPMC and the Ministry of Health - was they were not tracked nor assessed. It was down to public opinion through commissioned surveys. Was the same also true of domestic vaccine passes?

In March 2022 when discussion on the passes being lifted had started - this science media ‘expert reaction’ noted that domestic vaccine passes based on the primary series were largely useless.

Domestic vaccine passes were officially ditched at midnight on the 4th of April 2022 in favor of allowing businesses to choose (exactly what the Assistant Privacy Commissioner warned of) and were later quietly decommissioned. International travel certificates are still available through My Covid Record.