COVID-19 vaccine contract summary
Manatū Hauora - Ministry of Health has released a summary of the New Zealand Government’s procurement process for COVID-19 vaccines and its contracts with suppliers.
Summary released 18 September 2023
To address unprecedented public interest, the Ombudsman recommended that Manatū Hauora publish a summary statement.
The full contracts have not been released because there are good reasons to withhold some information on grounds of commercial sensitivity. Releasing the information would likely make it harder for the Government to purchase COVID-19 vaccines or other vaccines in the future.
The summary was developed by the Ministry of Health, Pharmac and the Treasury, in consultation with vaccine suppliers Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Novavax and Janssen.
Vaccine strategy
The New Zealand Government developed a COVID-19 vaccine strategy to make sure it could buy safe and effective vaccines as quickly as possible.
The vaccine strategy included a portfolio approach of entering into advance purchase agreements for a range of different vaccines to manage the risk that any one of the emerging vaccines might be ineffective, unavailable, or unsuitable.
Responsibility for funding of COVID-19 vaccines and management of the advance purchase agreements were transferred to Pharmac on 1 July 2023.
Future vaccine purchasing
Pharmac has released a call for applications for COVID-19 vaccines to help us plan our future approach to procurement and supply. Applications close in December 2024.
Call for funding applications for vaccines providing protection against COVID-19
Pharmac's role in COVID-19 vaccine purchasing
Who to contact
If you have questions about the summary of the past COVID-19 vaccine contracts, contact Manatū Hauora - Ministry of Health(external link)
If you have questions about the future procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, email enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz