Since the beginning of this year, Health NZ has been providing vapes to 29 stop-smoking programmes around the country as part of a pilot programme. <\/p>\n
The vaping kits have had varying degrees of success. <\/p>\n
Health NZ says between January and July, 4326 people quit smoking within four weeks, proven by a carbon-monoxide breath test. <\/p>\n
Just over 1400 of those people – roughly 33% of the total – received a vaping kit, although Health NZ says it\u2019s given out 3000 kits. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s now put a tender out for more vapes – but won\u2019t say if this is an extension of the pilot, or a new permanent programme. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis request for quotes (RFQ) will help Health NZ make permanent funding decisions in the future, depending on outcomes,\u201d a spokeswoman said. <\/p>\n
Health NZ also won\u2019t say how many it wants to order – but it previously ordered 3000 vaping kits at a cost of $575,000. <\/p>\n
The RFQ is looking for vapes with removable nicotine-filled pods to supply one user for up to three months.<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand’s put out a request for quotes for vaping devices. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
It seeks pods with strengths from zero nicotine to 28.5mg\/ml – the legal maximum in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s also seeking three flavours – menthol, cinnamon and blueberry. <\/p>\n
Health NZ\u2019s Saskia Booiman says the outcomes from the pilot have given the organisation confidence to continue supplying vapes, and it\u2019s gone to market to find the best deal. <\/p>\n
\u201cVaping, alongside other nicotine replacement therapies such as gum, lozenges, and patches, offers an additional option to support smoking cessation.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing the RFQ process, an evaluation panel will review and score proposals based on the criteria listed in the RFQ and make recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Booiman also provided a copy of Health NZ\u2019s criteria for providers, including requiring proper assessments of patients, and not providing kits to non-smokers or youth. <\/p>\n
It also requires patients be told vapes aren\u2019t an approved stop-smoking medicine. <\/p>\n
It also won\u2019t accept quotes from providers with connections to the tobacco industry. <\/p>\n
GP says approach is \u2018disturbing\u2019<\/p>\n
Dr Buzz Burrell, a rural doctor who chairs General Practitioners Aotearoa, says the approach boils down to one line. <\/p>\n
\u201cGosh, you\u2019re addicted to inhaling nicotine. Let me help you by teaching you how to inhale nicotine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something really fundamentally naive and odd about that sentence. It is disturbing, especially given the fact that it may be less dangerous, but it\u2019s still dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burrell explained when swallowing a substance, it will hit your brain within 15-20 minutes. If you intravenously inject it, it takes a minute. <\/p>\n
But inhaling a substance takes just 20 seconds to hit your brain. <\/p>\n
Dr Buzz Burrell – \u201cThere are more intelligent ways to get people off smoking\u201d.
\nPhoto \/ Corey Fleming <\/p>\n
\u201cInhaling is a fantastic way to stay addicted to something. <\/p>\n
\u201cAre we really trying to get people off nicotine addiction by saying \u2018here, we\u2019ve got three flavours to go for?\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more intelligent ways to get people off smoking.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation\u2019s CEO Letitia Harding agreed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI find it very strange that this is being pushed so much with very little evidence behind it. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly starting to feel like a permanent programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese products are not indicated as a smoking cessation tool, they\u2019re not registered with Medsafe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Harding said there wasn\u2019t enough evidence to say vapes were a good tool to help smokers quit. <\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s Ayesha Verrall says it\u2019s not something she would prioritise, saying vapes are already readily available. <\/p>\n
She took issue with the language in the RFQ around what a potential contract would do for a vape company\u2019s image. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s distasteful to see Health NZ offering to launder the reputation of a vape company by offering to partner with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Government repealed the smoke free laws that would have saved 5000 lives and saved the health system billions of dollars. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow it seems to be running Health NZ like it\u2019s a vape shop.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ethan Griffiths is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. He joined NZME as a print journalist in 2020, previously working as an Open Justice reporter in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington, and as a general reporter in Whanganui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the beginning of this year, Health NZ has been providing vapes to 29 stop-smoking programmes around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50327,1052,138,9362,14154,266,134,9363,130,111,51026,139,69,384,2171,1030,14152,21501,40249,51025,20789,29747,301,61,810,1059,29591],"class_list":["post-62315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-attempting","tag-benefits","tag-business","tag-devices","tag-give","tag-government","tag-health","tag-kits","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newstalk","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-plans","tag-pr","tag-quit","tag-reveal","tag-seeking","tag-smokers","tag-smoking","tag-suppliers","tag-talks","tag-to","tag-up","tag-vaping","tag-wanting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62315","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=62315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}