Budget 2024, announced on 30 May, allocated more than $230 million over four years to Covid and pandemic preparedness. According to Budget documents, this covers Covid vaccines and therapeutics, while retaining "critical public health surveillance infrastructure, supporting system preparedness to identify and respond to future disease outbreaks". Initially, Covid vaccines and treatments were paid for from a separate fund provided by the government. Meaning Covid vaccines and treatments needed to be prioritised against all the other medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and related products funded for New Zealanders. (While the Covid vaccines do not necessarily stop someone becoming infected, they remain good protection against severe illness and death from the disease.)

Source: Stuff June 06, 2024 10:16 UTC