2.0 Introduction: the role of Phase Two and our approach Kupu Whakataki: te whai wāhi o te Wāhanga Tuarua me tā mātou aronga
2.0 Introduction: the role of Phase Two and our approach | Kupu Whakataki: te whai wāhi o te Wāhanga Tuarua me tā mātou aronga
The following chapters examine the key decisions made by the Government in four areas of the pandemic response during 2021 and 2022:
- vaccine approval and safety
- vaccine mandates, including the introduction of the Vaccination Assessment Tool and vaccine passes
- national and regional lockdowns, and
- the procurement, development, and distribution of testing technologies.
These topics, and the time period covered by Phase Two, capture some of the most difficult and divisive elements of New Zealand's pandemic response. Some of these topics were explored in Phase One and discussed in its final report. However, over the course of Phase One, concerns were expressed by members of the public that some important issues were not being addressed, such as the adequacy of the processes used to assess and monitor the safety of vaccines.
The new Terms of Reference for Phase Two of the Inquiry, issued in 2024, have required us to consider whether the Government's decisions:
- were adequately informed by advice about the social and economic consequences they were likely to cause
- especially their effects on social division and isolation, health, education, inflation, debt and business activity
- reflected the advice decision-makers were given at the time
- took account of experience and evolving practices in other comparable countries
- struck a reasonable balance between pursuing COVID-19 public health goals and minimising social and economic disruption
- produced unforeseen consequences.
Our assessment of key pandemic response decisions, set out in the four chapters that follow, is based on the evidentiary sources listed in Part 1 of this report (see section 1.1.2).
While we have been mindful of Phase One's findings and conclusions in analysing the evidence, we are not bound by them. Where we have agreed with Phase One, this has been on the basis of our own, independent assessment.
The legal advice Crown agencies received from Crown Law (and other lawyers) during the pandemic, including on human rights, is subject to legal professional privilege. Many passages from Cabinet papers and other documents we reviewed in the course of our analysis were redacted on that basis. However, we sought and were granted a partial waiver allowing us to review some redacted information relating to key decisions within our terms of reference. Our review of that information is reflected in the chapters that follow.