McKinsey & Company / CDPH Directors: COVID-19 Emails, 2020

State of California - Health and Human Services Agency
Tomas J. Aragon, M.D. Dr. P.H
Director and State Public Health Officer California Department of Public Health Gavin Newsom, Governor




Thank you for contacting the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to obtain public records.
Your Public Records Act (PRA) request dated January 31, 2023, is being processed.  Reference Number P017708-013123 has been assigned for tracking purposes.  Please refer to this reference number for use when accessing the CDPH Public Records Center Portal to monitor the progress of your request.
CDPH strives to answer all requests for public records in as timely a manner as possible.  Under California law, CDPH must respond to your inquiry no later than ten calendar days from receipt of the request to notify you whether records will be disclosed.   Note that some records are exempted from disclosure.  If the requested records are exempt, we will inform you in writing as to why.
The Public Records Act (see Govt. Code §6250 et. seq.) provides that CDPH may extend the response period for up to 14 calendar days should it be necessary to search for records located at off-site facilities or if the request involves a voluminous amount of records.  We will notify you within 10 days of receipt of your request if a 14-day extension is necessary.  If fees are involved, CDPH will need to collect the fees before releasing the records.  However, there is typically no fee for records released electronically through the Public Records Center Portal.
The 10- and 14-day response periods are to allow CDPH time to determine how long it will take to disclose the requested records.  Depending on the number of records requested or other factors, a response may take longer.  CDPH will do its best to provide documents on a rolling basis as they become available and to keep you informed as to the timing and type of records to be released.
Please visit the CDPH Public Records Center Portal to monitor request progress, communicate with CDPH staff processing your request and to submit future requests.
California Department of Public Health

Erin,
Thank you for this clarification. Based on this follow-up request CDPH will close your initial request, 17692-013023.
Matt Conens

Erin, CDPH  has located documents responsive to your request and are in the process of reviewing those records.  Many CDPH records contain private health information and are subject to other legal exemptions.  We will update you with our progress by February 23. Thank you, Matt Conens

Erin, CDPH has located documents responsive to your request and remains in the process of reviewing those records.  Many CDPH records contain private health information and are subject to other legal exemptions.  We will update you with our progress by May 10. Thank you, Matt Conens

Erin, In response to your request to the California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH): CDPH is still reviewing records and will provide an update by March 17. Thank you, Matt Conens

Erin, In response to your request to the California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH): CDPH is still reviewing records and will provide an update by March 23. Thank you, Matt Conens

Erin,

In response to your request to the California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH):

CDPH is still reviewing records and will provide an update by April 7.

Thank you,
Matt Conens

Erin,
In response to your request to the California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH):
CDPH is still reviewing records and will provide records or an update by April 21.
Thank you, Matt Conens

Erin, In response to your request to the California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH):
CDPH is still reviewing records and will provide records or an update by May 5.
Thank you,
Matt

RE: Public Records Act Request, Reference Number PO17708-013123 Dear Erin Marie Miller: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) received your Public Records Act request on May 4, 2021: To Whom It May Concern: This is a correction to my previously submitted, otherwise identical FOIA request. I am updating my request to reflect the correct statute under which information is being requested. Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records: 1. All emails to/from/between former California Dept. of Public Health Director Sonia Angell and any email address originating from, or ending in, " @mckinsey.com " between the dates of 3/1/2020 and 8/31/2020. 2. All emails to/from/between former California Dept. of Public Health Interim Director Sandra Shewry and any email address originating from, or ending in, " @mckinsey.com " between the dates of 8/1/2020 and 12/31/2020. 3. All emails to/from/between California Dept. of Public Health Director Tomas J. Aragon and any email address originating from, or ending in, " @mckinsey.com " between the dates of 12/1/2020 and 6/1/2021. Please make sure to include any attachments to those emails. If it is not possible for your agency to conduct a search for emails originating from a specific domain, such as @mckinsey.com, please let me know and I can provide you with a specific list of McKinsey email addresses to search for instead. McKinsey & Co. is a global management consulting firm whose work regarding various government responses to COVID-19, including vaccination efforts, have come under scrutiny recently in the U.S. (https://www.propublica.org/article/how-mckinsey-is-making-100-million-and-counting-advising-on-the-governments-bumbling-coronavirus-response) and in France (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/business/france-mckinsey-consultants-covid-vaccine.html). The firm's government contracts were also the subject of a recent public records lawsuit in Tennessee (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tennessee-sued-not-releasing-covid-221610057.html). McKinsey & Co. also recently came under scrutiny in the national press over potential conflicts of interest related to the firm's relationships with pharmaceutical companies and regulators (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/13/business/mckinsey-purdue-fda-records.html). During the pandemic in 2020, the State of California had contracts with McKinsey and Company, which are disclosed on the state's COVID-19 contract disclosure website: https://covid19.ca.gov/contracts/ Based on that information, fully understanding how CDPH and State officials interacted with McKinsey & Co. when developing California's COVID-19 response, including the information and advice that was provided to CDPH and State officials by McKinsey & Co. regarding COVID-19, is of the highest importance to the public. The requested information should be made available to the public with as few redactions as possible, and at the lowest fee possible, as soon as possible. When providing the records related to this request, please specifically certify that no other responsive documents related to this request exist. The requested information will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and/or activities of the government, and is not primarily in my commercial interest. In order to help determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am a freelance journalist whose work is published regularly by print and digital news outlets and magazines. You can view my portfolio at www.erinmariemiller.com/clips. I have previously been determined a media requester by federal agencies in other FOIA requests. As a member of the media, I request a waiver of all fees. In the event that there are fees, I am willing to pay up to $25 for the requested information. If the fee for this request exceeds this amount, please notify me in writing for permission prior to beginning work on the request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not. Please send all documents related to this request to this email address. Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires. Sincerely, Erin Marie Miller CDPH has records that are responsive to your request and they are now ready for you to view/download va the CDPH Records Center.

Some responsive documents were redacted or withheld from disclosure under Government Code section 7927.700, as personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.  Some other records are exempt under Section 7922.000 because the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in withholding exempt records. Two categories of records have a very large volume of records.

The first is the category containing Vaccine Summary Custom Reports which were issued daily. Two samples of these reports are uploaded for your review.  If you wish to see more of these reports, please let us know within 10 days or this request will be closed. The second category is various newsletters and updates developed and regularly distributed by McKinsey.  They are not directed at CDPH and nearly always address topics unrelated to public heath or COVID.  One sample in this category is uploaded.  If you wish to see more of these newsletter emails, please let us know within 10 days or this request will be closed. Thank you,
Matt Conens

Hi Erin, thanks for providing the additional information.
I received two similar versions of your note - did you make any changes to what you sent in the morning?
Please let me know and I'll forward your guidance to the team working on this request.
Thanks, Matt

Erin, Additional records responsive to your request, which you clarified in your April 30 message to CDPH, are now available for you to download via the CDPH Records Center. Additional records will be released on a rolling basis. Records withheld from disclosure contain high-level government decisionmakers’ discussions of discretionary and interpretative issues relating to the vaccine rollout and efforts to develop public messaging.  As they contain discussions by policymakers about real-time decisions and considerations about the available options involved in the vaccine rollout and sensitive, difficult decisions about allocations, prior to the final determination, it is appropriate to withhold these records in order to protect an environment conducive to candid communications, which is essential to effective decisionmaking.  Times Mirror Co. vs. Superior Court, 53 Cal.3d 1325. Thank you, Matt

Erin, Additional records responsive to your request, which you clarified in your April 30 message to CDPH, are now available for you to download via the CDPH Records Center. Additional records will be released on a rolling basis. Thank you, Matt

Erin, Additional records responsive to your request, which you clarified in your April 30 message to CDPH, are now available for you to download via the CDPH Records Center. Additional records will be released on a rolling basis. Thank you, Matt

Erin, Additional records responsive to your request, which you clarified in your April 30 message to CDPH, are now available for you to download via the CDPH Records Center.
This concludes the CDPH response to your request. Thank you, Matt