FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA
25 March 2022
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear WA Department of Health,
I am writing to you to request information through the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA) (FOI Act).
I request the following statistics regarding the 30 people who are stated to have died from/with Covid in Western Australia.
- age
- sex
- vaccination status
- comorbidities
Names and other personal details may be withheld.
Yours faithfully,
Jack Graziotti
Dear Mr Graziotti,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately the information you are seeking would be considered personal information about an individual and exempt from release.
Deidentified statistical information is released daily by The Premier or the Health Minister in their media announcements and also on wa.gov.au
I will direct you to the following page:
https://www.wa.gov.au/government/covid-1...
If you check this page on the right hand side there is a link to daily statistics.
Kind regards,
Kirsty Fehlberg | Freedom of Information Coordinator
Technology & Information Services | Corporate Services | Office of the Director General
Department of Health |189 Royal Street, East Perth WA 6004
T: (08) 9222 2410 E: [WA Department of Health request email] W: www.health.wa.gov.au
The contents of this e-mail transmission are intended solely for the named recipient(s), may be confidential, and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure in the public interest. The use, reproduction, disclosure or distribution of the contents of this e-mail transmission by any person other than the named recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient please notify the sender immediately.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Graziotti <[FOI #8651 email]>
Sent: Friday, 25 March 2022 11:20 AM
To: DOH, FOI <[WA Department of Health request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA
<div style="background-color:#FFEB9C; width:100%; border-style: solid; border-color:#9C6500; border-width:1pt; padding:1pt; font-size:11pt; line-height:11pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:Black; text-align: left;"><span style="color:#9C6500; font-weight:bold;"> CAUTION External Communication:</span> This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. </div><br> </br>
25 March 2022
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear WA Department of Health,
I am writing to you to request information through the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA) (FOI Act).
I request the following statistics regarding the 30 people who are stated to have died from/with Covid in Western Australia.
- age
- sex
- vaccination status
- comorbidities
Names and other personal details may be withheld.
Yours faithfully,
Jack Graziotti
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #8651 email]
Is [WA Department of Health request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to WA Department of Health? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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Dear WA Department of Health,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of WA Department of Health's handling of my FOI request 'FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA'.
The responding officer claimed that the information I am requesting is "personal information about an individual and exempt from release". I requested de-identified statistics, so this claim is null and void.
The link to which she referred me is not satisfactory. As a member of the public who is affected daily by the government's Covid policies, I demand that my right to this information be granted.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/f...
Yours faithfully,
Jack Graziotti
Dear Mr Graziotti,
Thank you for your email.
We cannot accept your request for an internal review as you have not submitted a valid application under the Freedom of Information Act (1992). In order for a review, there must have been a valid application submitted and a notice of decision provided.
The information you requested about individual patients included their vaccination status and co-morbid medical conditions. This information is personal to the patient and therefore exempt.
Again, the type of de-identified general information available on patients who have died from COVID-19 in Western Australia is disclosed by the Premier or Minister for Health at media press conferences daily.
Please see the below link as an example:
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western...
I draw your attention to the statement in the attached news story " Due to patient confidentiality, no further information will be released".
Confidential patient medical information cannot legally be released by the Department of Health without the explicit consent of the patient.
Kind regards,
Kirsty Fehlberg | Freedom of Information Coordinator
Technology & Information Services | Corporate Services | Office of the Director General
Department of Health |189 Royal Street, East Perth WA 6004
T: (08) 9222 2410 E: [WA Department of Health request email] W: www.health.wa.gov.au
The contents of this e-mail transmission are intended solely for the named recipient(s), may be confidential, and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure in the public interest. The use, reproduction, disclosure or distribution of the contents of this e-mail transmission by any person other than the named recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient please notify the sender immediately.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Graziotti <[FOI #8651 email]>
Sent: Friday, 25 March 2022 12:17 PM
To: DOH, FOI <[WA Department of Health request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA
<div style="background-color:#FFEB9C; width:100%; border-style: solid; border-color:#9C6500; border-width:1pt; padding:1pt; font-size:11pt; line-height:11pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:Black; text-align: left;"><span style="color:#9C6500; font-weight:bold;"> CAUTION External Communication:</span> This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. </div><br> </br> Dear WA Department of Health,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of WA Department of Health's handling of my FOI request 'FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA'.
The responding officer claimed that the information I am requesting is "personal information about an individual and exempt from release". I requested de-identified statistics, so this claim is null and void.
The link to which she referred me is not satisfactory. As a member of the public who is affected daily by the government's Covid policies, I demand that my right to this information be granted.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
Yours faithfully,
Jack Graziotti
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #8651 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ms Fehlberg,
I am seeking a breakdown of WA "Covid deaths" (noting that WADoH is actually including patients who die with, as well as of, Covid) that also classifies these patients by their vaccination status, age and sex. Can you please provide me with a link to the appropriate report wherein I might find this information? Or are you telling me that this information is not published anywhere? Surely that would be a gross oversight on the part of your Department and the Western Australian Government.
Also, your insistence that a patient's vaccination status is protected by patient confidentiality is confusing given that Mark McGowan himself chose to disclose the vaccination status of a deceased man as recently as February 11: https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/coronav... . Are you telling me that Mr McGowan breached WADoH's patient confidentiality policy?
Yours sincerely,
Jack Graziotti
Good Morning Mr Graziotti,
Thank you for your email.
Freedom of Information legislation is designed for the general public to apply for copies of State Government documents that exist. It is not for manufacturing documents to suit an applicants purpose or to answer questions.
The information you are requesting is not published by the Department of Health in the format you are seeking. This information is verbally reported daily by the Premier or Minister for Health at media press conferences.
The information that is reported, other than the general date range of the patients age at time of death and gender - such as vaccination status or co-morbidities, is considered to be identifiable information and is only released to the media with permission of the families.
I trust this clarifies the issue for you.
Kind regards,
Freedom of Information Coordinator
Technology & Information Services | Corporate Services | Office of the Director General
Department of Health |189 Royal Street, East Perth WA 6004
E: [WA Department of Health request email] W: www.health.wa.gov.au
The contents of this e-mail transmission are intended solely for the named recipient(s), may be confidential, and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure in the public interest. The use, reproduction, disclosure or distribution of the contents of this e-mail transmission by any person other than the named recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient please notify the sender immediately.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Graziotti <[FOI #8651 email]>
Sent: Friday, 25 March 2022 1:21 PM
To: DOH, FOI <[WA Department of Health request email]>
Subject: RE: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - FOI - Covid death vaccination statuses and comorbidities in WA
<div style="background-color:#FFEB9C; width:100%; border-style: solid; border-color:#9C6500; border-width:1pt; padding:1pt; font-size:11pt; line-height:11pt; font-family:'Calibri'; color:Black; text-align: left;"><span style="color:#9C6500; font-weight:bold;"> CAUTION External Communication:</span> This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. </div><br> </br> Dear Ms Fehlberg,
I am seeking a breakdown of WA "Covid deaths" (noting that WADoH is actually including patients who die with, as well as of, Covid) that also classifies these patients by their vaccination status, age and sex. Can you please provide me with a link to the appropriate report wherein I might find this information? Or are you telling me that this information is not published anywhere? Surely that would be a gross oversight on the part of your Department and the Western Australian Government.
Also, your insistence that a patient's vaccination status is protected by patient confidentiality is confusing given that Mark McGowan himself chose to disclose the vaccination status of a deceased man as recently as February 11: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.... . Are you telling me that Mr McGowan breached WADoH's patient confidentiality policy?
Yours sincerely,
Jack Graziotti
-----Original Message-----
Dear Mr Graziotti,
Thank you for your email.
We cannot accept your request for an internal review as you have not submitted a valid application under the Freedom of Information Act (1992). In order for a review, there must have been a valid application submitted and a notice of decision provided.
The information you requested about individual patients included their vaccination status and co-morbid medical conditions. This information is personal to the patient and therefore exempt.
Again, the type of de-identified general information available on patients who have died from COVID-19 in Western Australia is disclosed by the Premier or Minister for Health at media press conferences daily.
Please see the below link as an example:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
I draw your attention to the statement in the attached news story " Due to patient confidentiality, no further information will be released".
Confidential patient medical information cannot legally be released by the Department of Health without the explicit consent of the patient.
Kind regards,
Kirsty Fehlberg | Freedom of Information Coordinator Technology & Information Services | Corporate Services | Office of the Director General Department of Health |189 Royal Street, East Perth WA 6004
T: (08) 9222 2410 E: [WA Department of Health request email] W: http://www.health.wa.gov.au
The contents of this e-mail transmission are intended solely for the named recipient(s), may be confidential, and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure in the public interest. The use, reproduction, disclosure or distribution of the contents of this e-mail transmission by any person other than the named recipient(s) is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient please notify the sender immediately.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #8651 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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