Thousands of New Zealanders being contacted after personal details leaked in Covid-19 data breach

Health NZ chief executive Margie Apa. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Whatu Ora is contacting 12,000 New Zealanders, some of whom worked as Covid-19 vaccinators, after their personal information was found to have been released in a data leak.

Chief executive Margie Apa said the information was made available on a downloadable file which was leaked to a US blogsite.

Former Te Whatu Ora employee Barry Young was arrested in December and charged with dishonestly taking health agency data and spreading it online. He pleaded not guilty and will reappear in court on February 23.

Apa said today the process of contacting every person who was affected had begun and while 12,000 have been identified so far, the number could continue to rise.

“This is a highly complex situation, and our investigation is ongoing. We are working with local and international cyber security experts to assist and monitor for signs of the data being disclosed online,” Apa said.

“There is also a small group of vaccinated people, who through the use of considerable effort and technical expertise, could potentially be identified within information earlier made publicly available.”

Apa said the release of the information fuelled misinformation that vaccines are not safe.

Young was interviewed by conspiracy theorists Liz Gunn and Alex Jones, and the data was the subject of a question in the UK’s House of Commons in December from an MP critical of the vaccine.

Barry Young waving to supporters as he enters the dock for his bail hearing in the Wellington District Court in December, 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“The misinformation about vaccines put in the public arena in relation to the alleged unauthorised data release is completely wrong,” Apa said.

“Vaccines remain safe.

“The role played by vaccinators during the pandemic was invaluable and helped to keep communities safe and save lives.”