As of 20 December 2024, we have announced our reporting intentions for this major spending decision.
We will report against this major spending decision from Budget 2024 in the Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora Annual Report, and at this website twice a year. We will post results here so you can track the progress on this decision.
Funding provided
$232.152 million over 4 years to support COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness activities
This initiative is to:
- deliver COVID-19 vaccines, including contribution for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and processing services, and
- maintain critical surveillance infrastructure.
This initiative supports a preventative approach to COVID-19 and ongoing critical surveillance infrastructure to support pandemic preparedness activities. The expected outcomes of the initiative are supporting continued timely access to COVID-19 vaccines based on Pharmac’s current eligibility criteria* and maintaining critical surveillance infrastructure to respond to pandemic outbreaks.
* All people aged 30+ can get boosters, and people who are immunocompromised or have significant or complex health needs or multiple comorbidities would continue to be eligible for further boosters aged 16+.
What is being delivered
$232.152 million in total funding over 4 years
To support the ongoing delivery of COVID-19 vaccines as New Zealand continues to scale down its COVID-related activities whilst also maintaining critical pandemic surveillance infrastructure to retain the ability to identify a range of possible communicable disease outbreaks.
This breaks down to:
- $193.912 million over 4 years ($56.435 million this year)
To support the operational delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, including contribution for PCR testing and processing services, which is the responsibility of Health New Zealand. - $38.240 million over 4 years ($9.56 million this year)
To maintain critical surveillance infrastructure, such as wastewater testing and whole genome sequencing via the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.
This includes:- Wastewater surveillance services,
- Genomic sequencing services,
- Microbiology laboratory services,
- Epidemiological and public health surveillance services,
- Data and intelligence services.
How we will show progress
COVID-19 vaccine administered
We will report here on the COVID-19 vaccine administered between specific dates as part of this decision. This will include the number of people vaccinated by age group, the population and coverage.
Measure: the number of COVID-19 vaccination dose[s] (both primary and subsequent doses) delivered, number of people vaccinated, and the overall coverage rate by age and ethnicity (in the relevant prior six-month reporting period).
Result: Table 1 and Table 2 below show the COVID-19 vaccine delivery results for six months from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.
Table 1: COVID-19 vaccine administered between 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024, by age
| Age (years) | COVID-19 doses | People vaccinated | Population | Coverage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline 2023/24 | 1 Jul to 31 Dec 2024 | Baseline 2023/24 | 1 Jul to 31 Dec 2024 | Baseline 30 June 2024 | 31 Dec 2024 | Baseline using people vaccinated 2023/24^ | Using people vaccinated 2024/25# | |
| 5–11 | 2,399 | 346 | 2,039 | 343 | 491,627 | 492,575 | 0.41% | 0.07% |
| 12–17 | 2,510 | 649 | 2,544 | 649 | 463,657 | 471,258 | 0.55% | 0.14% |
| 18–34 | 29,692 | 7,236 | 28,593 | 7,249 | 1,358,153 | 1,362,825 | 2.11% | 0.53% |
| 35–49 | 75,527 | 15,606 | 69,088 | 15,589 | 1,029,259 | 1,054,974 | 6.71% | 1.48% |
| 50–64 | 168,538 | 38,085 | 149,552 | 37,999 | 929,788 | 932,784 | 16.08% | 4.07% |
| 65+ | 462,963 | 119,426 | 376,005 | 119,012 | 889,704 | 906,495 | 42.26% | 13.13% |
| TOTAL | 741,629 | 181,348 | 627,821 | 180,841 | 5,162,188 | 5,220,911 | 12.16% | 3.46% |
The baseline data COVID-19 vaccine administered during FY 2023/24 is included in the Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Annual Report 2023/24.1
^Coverage at baseline using people vaccinated 2023/24 =
People vaccinated baseline 2023/24 x 100 ÷ Population baseline 30 June 2024
#Coverage using people vaccinated 2024/25 =
People vaccinated 1 July to 31 December 2024 x 100 ÷ Population 31 December 2024
Table 2: COVID-19 vaccine administered between 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024, by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | People vaccinated | Population | Coverage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Māori | 10,059 | 794,447 | 1.27% |
| Pacific Peoples | 3,314 | 419,465 | 0.79% |
| Asian | 11,240 | 923,122 | 1.22% |
| Other | 156,228 | 3,083,877 | 5.07% |
| Total | 180,841 | 5,220,911 | 3.46% |
Health New Zealand data disclosures (COVID-19 data in Table 1 and Table 2)
Data is sourced from the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR) and may be subject to any data quality issues still to be resolved in AIR, which includes, but is not limited to:
- incorrect vaccination event dates
- miscoding of vaccination given
- miscoding of person to vaccination event.
Note that these data quality issues are largely attributed to the fact that many fields within AIR are free text and are therefore prone to data entry errors.
Terminology
- ‘People vaccinated’ is defined for this product as people who have received at least one vaccination in the relevant time period (e.g., within 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024). This is not the standard way Health New Zealand reports COVID-19 coverage, which defines someone as fully vaccinated if they have completed their primary course of vaccination at any time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The ‘doses administered’ data includes only doses administered in New Zealand.
- The coverage data (people vaccinated) is calculated from all completed COVID-19 immunisation events (i.e., immunisations administered both in New Zealand and overseas). This means that it is possible for doses administered to be lower than people vaccinated.
- Prioritised Ethnicity (MPAO) is used.
- A person’s age is calculated as at the end of each respective time period.
- Duplicate immunisation events (multiple COVID-19 immunisations administered on the same day) have been removed.
- Restricted users have been removed from all data.
- Data for under 5's are not included as the vast majority of under 5's are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.
- The forecast periods increase cumulatively, with each period beginning at the start of our actual data (1 July 2024) and the end of each forecast period increasing by a quarter or a year.
- The ‘Population’ variable has been forecasted by applying a linear regression model to the AIR population data from the start of March 2024 to the end of December 2024 (i.e., extrapolating the linear trend).
- The ‘Doses administered’ variable has been forecasted by simply mapping the 2024 data directly to the following years: 2025, 2026 and 2027.
PCR tests for COVID-19
We report here on the number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 taken and processed through Health New Zealand laboratory networks.
Baseline data: For the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, 338,886 PCR tests were taken and processed through Health New Zealand laboratory networks.1
Measure: the number of PCR tests for COVID-19 taken and processed through Health New Zealand laboratory networks (in the relevant prior six-month reporting period).
Result: Table 3 outlines the PCR tests undertaken between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024.
Table 3: Number of PCR tests for COVID-19 taken and processed through HNZ laboratory networks between 1 Jul 2024 and 31 Dec 2024
| PCR tests for COVID-19 taken and processed through Health New Zealand laboratory networks | |
|---|---|
| Number | 120,957 |
Surveillance infrastructure in place to support pandemic preparedness efforts for future outbreaks
We report on the following five services for maintaining basic surveillance infrastructure through funding to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR).
1. Wastewater Epidemiology services
ESR have sampled, analysed and reported pathogen genome levels in a minimum of six wastewater sites each week.
Result 6 months to 31 December 2025: Achieved
From October 2024, wastewater from 11 sentinel sites have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 twice weekly. Wastewater COVID-19 surveillance data is reported in a upgraded public-facing dashboard. Six sentinel sites are tested monthly for poliovirus. There was no detection of poliovirus in wastewater this quarter.
2. Genomic Sequencing services
ESR have performed and reported >100 genomic sequences per month, in accordance with pathogens of public health interest.
Result 6 months to 31 December 2025: Achieved
On average ESR have reported 598 COVID-19 genomes per month in 2024. COVID-19 whole genome sequencing activity (i.e., genomic characterisation of a pathogen) is reported monthly by ESR in the COVID-19 Genomics Insights (CGI) reports.
From July to December 2024, ESR have reported on average 450 genomes per month for antimicrobial resistance, enteric and invasive pathogens, Legionella and Leptospirosis.
3. Microbiological services
Provide specialist microbiologist reference testing services as required by the wider laboratory network and public health system. We will report on the achievement of this capability.
Result 6 months to 31 December 2025: Achieved
ESR has provided support in a range of outbreaks resistant pathogens in multiple regions and have identified a range of uncommon organisms through surveillance and monitoring enabling notification of Microbiology and Public Health Units.
4. Epidemiological and Public health surveillance services
Provide specialist epidemiologist and public health surveillance services as required by the wider public health system. We will report on the achievement of this capability.
Result 6 months to 31 December 2025: Achieved
ESR has supported the Christchurch University gastroenteritis outbreak investigation, avian influenza preparedness and response. ESR has provided support to determine the cause of a cluster of shigella toxigenic E. coli (STEC) cases in infants and young children.
ESR continues to monitor the ongoing B. pertussis (whooping cough) epidemic. ESR has supported the investigation of locally acquired Hepatitis A virus across multiple regions. ESR continues to support the health and wider sectors with food outbreak investigations.
5. Data and Intelligence services
Provide specialist data and intelligence services as required by the wider laboratory network and public health system. We will report on the achievement of this capability.
Result 6 months to 31 December 2025: Achieved
ESR are supporting the system to monitor communicable disease outbreaks. ESR are also supporting health agencies on development and enhancement of surveillance and disease notification platforms and well as modernising internal systems.
1. Baseline data is included in the Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Annual Report 2023/24 with caveats relating to changes in funding and policy settings, which will impact on expected delivery volumes and comparability year on year.
