The personal details of 12,000 New Zealanders have been leaked on an American website as a result of a data breach at Te Whatu Ora, the government department responsible for delivering health services.
An investigation began in December last year after it was found that 56-year-old health worker Barry Young—who also goes by the name Winston Smith—had accessed and used the data to spread vaccine misinformation. He was subsequently sacked, arrested, and charged with unauthorised disclosure and misuse of data. He is currently awaiting trial and faces a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.
Interviewed on a New Zealand website, he said he had developed a database for the vaccine rollout, and quoted data from that work. It’s understood that the alleged misinformation centres around the number of vaccine-related deaths. Authorities say that in New Zealand, there have been only four deaths linked to the COVID-19 vaccination since it was introduced.
