{"id":438718,"date":"2026-05-21T18:19:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438718\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:19:32","slug":"pharmac-proposal-to-strengthen-new-zealands-vaccine-response-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438718\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharmac Proposal To Strengthen New Zealand\u2019s Vaccine Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, 21 May 2026, 2:32 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Government<\/a><\/p>\n

Hon David
\nSeymour
Associate Minister of Health<\/p>\n

21
\nMay 2026<\/p>\n

Pharmac proposal to strengthen New
\nZealand\u2019s vaccine response<\/p>\n

Associate Health
\nMinister David Seymour welcomes Pharmac\u2019s proposal to
\nstrengthen New Zealand\u2019s vaccine response, including by
\nfunding the flu vaccine for children aged 6 months up to 5
\nyears old.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccines are important to Kiwis and can
\nprovide good value if they stop people getting sick in the
\nfuture,\u201d Mr Seymour says.<\/p>\n

If approved, Pharmac
\nwill:<\/p>\n

widen access to the flu vaccine for all
\nchildren from 6 months up to 5 years (6-59 months
\ninclusive)secure the ongoing supply for 17 vaccines
\nand 1 diagnostic testchange brands of the
\nmeningococcal ACWY, pneumococcal, and influenza
\nvaccines<\/p>\n

\u201cIf approved, around 260,000
\nadditional children would be eligible for a funded flu
\nvaccine in the 2027 flu season. In total, we expect over 1.5
\nmillion people would receive the vaccines included in this
\nproposal in the first year of funding,\u201d Mr Seymour
\nsays.<\/p>\n

\u201cPharmac are also considering changing some
\nvaccine brands to increase protection for certain age
\ngroups. For example, Pharmac would fund two new innovative
\nflu vaccines that provide increased protection for people
\naged 65 years and over, or at-risk people under 65. The
\nproposed brand change for the pneumococcal vaccine also
\nmeans there would be greater coverage for some
\npeople.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn drafting this proposal Pharmac sought
\nexpert clinical advice from Pharmac\u2019s Immunisation
\nAdvisory Committee on the proposed changes.<\/p>\n

Advertisement – scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s
\nimportant to the patient community that their voice is
\nheard. That\u2019s why Pharmac consult the community on funding
\nproposals before a final decision is made.<\/p>\n

\u201cPharmac
\nis asking the public, clinicians, consumer advocacy groups,
\nand others for feedback on the funding proposal from
\nThursday 21 May. Pharmac\u2019s consultation will help ensure
\nthese decisions are informed by clinical advice and feedback
\nfrom the public and health professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is
\nanother example of the culture we are building at Pharmac.
\nPharmac funding the medicines that Kiwis need, based on the
\nfeedback of Kiwis in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have your say here: Proposal
\nfor new supply agreements for funded vaccines in the
\nNational Immunisation Schedule, and widened access to
\ninfluenza vaccine<\/a><\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

If approved,
\nthese changes would happen from 1 April 2027 for influenza
\nvaccines and 1 July 2027 for meningococcal, pneumococcal
\nvaccines and all other vaccines. Pharmac already have a
\ncontract in place for flu vaccines that covers the 2026 flu
\nseason.<\/p>\n

More details on the proposal can be found
\nhere: Proposal
\nfor new supply agreements for funded vaccines in the
\nNational Immunisation Schedule, and widened access to
\ninfluenza
\nvaccine<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday, 21 May 2026, 2:32 pmPress Release: New Zealand Government Hon David SeymourAssociate Minister of Health 21 May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,7057,111,44458,24636,139,69,24637,147673,163295,11112],"class_list":["post-438718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-healthcare-industry","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-government","tag-newsworthy","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-parliament","tag-primary-health","tag-regulatory-framework","tag-scoop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}