Consultation for various vaccine supply agreements

Update Medicines

Pharmac is consulting on potential new supply agreements for multiple vaccines listed in the National Immunisation Schedule.

We’re consulting

We have secured provisional agreements with six suppliers to fund 17 vaccines. We are now seeking your feedback on these agreements.

These agreements are a result of the Request for Proposals (RFP) we issued in November 2022. Our RFP invited pharmaceutical suppliers to put forward bids to supply various funded vaccines for New Zealanders. This is part of our obligation to run fair and transparent procurement processes.

Proposed changes

Of the 17 vaccines being consulted on, we are proposing brand changes for three. These are:

  • Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine
  • Varicella vaccine (chickenpox)
  • Influenza vaccine

We are proposing to fund a second brand of the ACWY meningococcal vaccine, Nimenrix, for children under 12 months of age as the current brand, MenQuadfi is not Medsafe approved for this age group. We will continue funding MenQuadfi for those over 12 months of age. 

We wanted to widen access to meningococcal and influenza vaccines

We asked suppliers for commercial bids that would allow us to widen access to meningococcal and influenza vaccines. Unfortunately, no one made a proposal that would allow us to widen access within our current budget.

We would like to widen access to these vaccines when our budget allows. The applications to widen access to the meningococcal and influenza vaccines remain investments we would like to make.   

View the full vaccine consultation

Vaccines not included in the RFP

Meningococcal B and varicella zoster

The meningococcal B vaccine (funded brand is Bexsero) and varicella zoster vaccine (funded brand is Shingrix) were not included in this RFP process. This is because the currently funded brands were recently listed on the Schedule and have subsidy and delisting protection until 28 February 2026.

COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines were also not included. We are exploring options for future procurement of this vaccine and expect to provide more information at a later date.

Seeking feedback

Now is the vital step of getting your feedback on our proposal.

We value this process. Your advice can bring our attention to any issues we need to consider in our decision.

Send your feedback to vaccines@pharmac.govt.nz by 9am, Monday 26 June 2023.

Want to know more?

For general public enquiries,  email: enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz

For media queries, email media@pharmac.govt.nz