Govt Sets Itself Up for Congratulatory Pat on the Back with Extremely Narrowly Defined Covid Response Inquiry
December 5, 2022
The Royal Commission will begin considering evidence from 1 February 2023 and conclude in mid-2024.
“A report will then be prepared which will help inform any future Government’s pandemic response,” Jan Tinetti said.
The following matters are outside the scope of the inquiry:
- Particular clinical decisions made by clinicians or by public health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic
- How and when the strategies and other measures devised in response to COVID-19 were implemented or applied in particular situations or in individual cases
- The specific epidemiology of the COVID-19 virus and its variants
- Vaccine efficacy
- The recent reforms to New Zealand’s health system, including the organisational arrangements for public health services
- The judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals and independent agencies such as the Ombudsman, the Privacy Commissioner, or the Independent Police Conduct
- Authority relating to the COVID-19 pandemic
- The operation of the private sector, except where the private sector delivers services integral to a pandemic response
- Particular decisions taken by the Reserve Bank’s independent monetary policy committee during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Any adaptation of court procedures by the judiciary during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Any adaptation of parliamentary processes during the COVID-19 pandemic
- The conduct of the general election during the COVID-19 pandemic.