Pharmac and Health NZ is weighing up the future of Covid vaccines and treatments

Pharmac and Health NZ are weighing up the future direction of Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments in New Zealand. No change is imminent, with Pharmac promising the public will be consulted before any changes are made.

Together, the two agencies can limit near-universal access to vaccines. Covid vaccines and treatments are currently funded through their own budget line, which goes to Pharmac.

That funding will run out at the end of the current fiscal year, on June 30. The former government handed over Covid-19 responsibilities to Pharmac, which now has to balance spending on Covid drugs against using money for treatments for other diseases.

Geraldine MacGibbon, pharmaceutical products director at Pharmac, said this to the newspaper Herald that it “continues to review eligibility criteria for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, as it does for all other medicines and vaccines it funds”.

“We have not proposed any changes to the eligibility criteria for vaccines and treatments at this time,” MacGibbon said, adding that Pharmac would consult publicly on any changes that would affect people’s access.

A spokesperson for Associate Health Minister David Seymour said Covid funding was built into the $1.774 billion funding package announced for Pharmac this week. This was to continue the agency’s current level of drug purchasing as it transitions to multi-year funding.

The spokesperson said: “Under the previous government, Covid funding was rolled into the CPB (Pharmac’s combined pharmaceutical budget) so that is built into the funding package. Individual decisions about certain medicines, including for the ongoing treatment and vaccination against Covid-19, are independently assessed by Pharmac”.

Health NZ-Te Whatu Ora is responsible for the rollout of the Covid vaccination programme. A Health NZ spokesperson said the agency was “currently considering future plans for Covid vaccines and treatment. Health NZ-Te Whatu Ora encourages eligible people to receive their Covid vaccination when the time comes.”

The 2023 budget allocated a total of $295 million for the Covid-19 vaccine programme.

This consisted of $165.2 million for Pharmac to purchase vaccines and antivirals in the 2023-24 fiscal year (well below the $886.9 million spent the year before) and $129.9 million to purchase the vaccine to deliver to people. The financing is multi-year financing, which means it can be spent over a longer period.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor, covering politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and in the press gallery since 2018.