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In 2020, the Ministry of Health (MoH) asked the the University of Auckland’s Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC) to subcontract the Covid-19 education of both healthcare workers and thousands of untrained vaccinators. This was required to roll out the mass vaccination campaign across New Zealand. One of the concerning issues with the roll out was the use of non-medically trained vaccinators who didn’t understand the depth and intent of informed consent. Well, NZH dropped a quiet bomb behind a paywall (and in the business section in the hardcopy) yesterday.
Dr Nikki Turner, IMAC’s medical director, is married to University of Otago’s Dr Tony Dowell (a professor of primary health).
Emails […] appear to show that Turner was pivotal in driving and developing the evolving contract and that she pushed hard to include Dowell in that work.
Toni Lamming is the executive director of business units at the University of Auckland’s business arm, UniServices. Lamming was clearly concerned about the conflict of interest and had other suitable people in mind. In an email to Turner, Lamming said:
“We have a strong capability in UoA/AUL in this space who are also working on Covid-19 evaluation work. […] NIHI does this as its core capability and works a lot with MoH as well. […]
“The relationship is too close and others reduce the professional exposure for all.”
Regardless, UniServices subcontracted Otago University. NIHI (National Institute for Health Innovation) got the subcontract for quantitative evaluation, but Dowell held leadership over both qualitative and quantitative evaluations. The Herald states, “Both subcontracts were awarded without a competitive process.”
Several sources told the Weekend Herald that Turner was viewed as the “rainmaker” for the ministry contract and powerful within government circles; overriding her wishes would have been very difficult, they said. Their identities have been withheld as they feared that speaking out would affect their careers. […]
[Turner] sits on a number of Covid response committees, and since last year has chaired the Government’s Strategic Covid-19 Public Health Advisory Group, which reports directly to Health Minister Ayesha Verrall. Turner and Verrall are friends, and Turner was present at Parliament to support Verrall when she made her maiden speech in December 2020. […]
UniServices CEO Andy Shenk says the conflict of interest was verbally disclosed to MoH at a meeting, but not noted formally.
[Shenk] said, however, that a senior IMAC member, not Turner, has, “a clear recollection of the meeting and is sure the ministry did not raise any concerns about the spousal relationship”.
The ministry was unable to corroborate this version of events.
Late 2020, the MoH provided $500,000 to IMAC to prepare to roll out the education. The main contract followed in early 2021, comprising of $16.54m-plus.
IMAC’s vaccinator education and training still forms part of an ongoing coronial inquiry and may be considered in others.
Read more here (paywalled). Discuss it on The BFD.
