from The Daily Telegraph NZ

New Official Information Act (OIA) disclosures obtained by the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Aly Cook have exposed a high-level effort to scrub vaccine safety information from public communications.

Internal documents reveal that an informal group of senior Cabinet members, referred to as the “Vaccine Ministers,” were central to the decision to remove references to myocarditis risks just days before New Zealand’s 2021 Delta lockdown.

The Redaction Order: August 17th Meeting

A critical piece of evidence is the record of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting on August 17, 2021. Section 6.0 of the meeting notes, titled “Myocarditis after Pfizer Vaccination,” contains a directive that compromised public transparency:

“It was requested that references to increasing dosing intervals potentially providing some protection against myocarditis be removed from communications. This has been actioned.”

Reducing the risk of heart inflammation (myocarditis) in the 12–17 age group—was intentionally omitted from public messaging.

Who Were the “Vaccine Ministers”?

The term “Vaccine Ministers” was an informal designation used by the Ministry of Health and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) to describe the covid-19 Ministerial Group. This ad-hoc group was delegated the power to make rapid-fire decisions on the rollout, often bypassing the slower, more transparent processes of full Cabinet committees.

As of August 2021, the “Vaccine Ministers” group consisted of:

  • Jacinda Ardern (Prime Minister)
  • Chris Hipkins (Minister for COVID-19 Response)
  • Andrew Little (Minister of Health)
  • Grant Robertson (Finance Minister)
  • Dr. Ayesha Verrall (Associate Minister of Health)
  • Peeni Henare (Associate Minister of Health)

Warnings for the Under-30s and 12-17s Ignored

The OIA paper trail shows that the risks for young people were well-known to officials before the public was informed. On August 1, 2021, Chief Science Advisor Dr. Ian Town alerted Ashley Bloomfield that Australian advisors (ATAGI) were already considering limiting to one dose for those under 30 due to myocarditis concerns.

Despite this, following a “Vaccine Ministers zoom meeting” on August 13th, the directive was given to “remove or re-word” these safety justifications in the 12–17-year-old rollout plan.

The Personal Motivation Behind the Investigation

“This investigation is about the thousands of young New Zealanders who were denied the right to informed consent,” says Aly Cook of the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party. “My son, Bailey, is among those who have suffered long-term from vaccine-induced pericarditis—a condition recognized by ACC, but one he still battles four years later. Knowing that politicians were meeting on Zoom to redact the very safety information that could have protected him is devastating.”

Watch Bailey’s Story on The Tribute.

“Ignoring the Science”

The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party contends that the “Vaccine Ministers” prioritised a seamless rollout over the safety of young New Zealanders. “They repeatedly told the public to ‘follow the science,’ but these documents show they were actively editing the science when it became inconvenient, going to the extent of hiding information from the public” says Cook.

The party is now demanding the full Zoom recording and transcript of the August 13th meeting to identify which specific cabinet member or official issued the request to redact the safety data and redact their decision to do so from OIAs.