COVID-19 & Influenza vaccine supply agreements

Thank you for your request dated 11 April 2024 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to COVID-19 & influenza vaccines. You requested:

List of COVID-19 vaccine supply agreements (including supply number) by year and by brand and manufacturer.

Number of COVID-19 XBB vaccine doses distributed in the country so far by month and by brand and manufacturer.

Number of seasonal influenza vaccine doses purchased by manufacturer and brand in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Number of seasonal influenza vaccine doses distributed in the country by manufacturer and brand in the 2024 season so far.

COVID-19 vaccines

List of COVID-19 vaccine supply agreements (including supply number) by year and by brand and manufacturer.

Information about the COVID-19 agreements, including year, brand and manufacturer can be found in the summary statement(external link) produced by the Ministry of Health with the assistance of Treasury, Pharmac, vaccine suppliers & the Ombudsman:

Number of COVID-19 XBB vaccine doses distributed in the country so far by month and by brand and manufacturer.

Please find a table below setting out the number of COVID-19 XBB vaccine doses distributed since January 2024.

Please note, the COVID-19 XBB vaccine was first distributed in February 2024 and as such, no information exists prior to this period. We have included January above to reflect this.

Influenza vaccines

Number of seasonal influenza vaccine doses purchased by manufacturer and brand in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Pharmac did not purchase any influenza vaccine in 2023 or 2024. As such, this part of your request is refused under section 18(e) of the OIA, as the requested information does not exist.

It is worth noting, Pharmac is a funder and does not directly purchase stock. Pharmac does, however, support suppliers in suppling 1.80 million doses in 2023 and 1.72 million doses in 2024.

Number of seasonal influenza vaccine doses distributed in the country by manufacturer and brand in the 2024 season so far.

Pharmac is aware that the following number of influenza vaccine doses were distributed by suppliers:

• 2023 – 1,561,162 doses
• 2024 (as of 11 April 2024) – 774,885 doses

A breakdown by manufacturer and brand is refused under section 9(2)(b)(ii) of the OIA, to protect the commercial position of the person who supplied the information, or who is the subject of the information.

In making our decision, we have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of the Act. No public interest has been identified that would be sufficient to override the reasons for withholding that information.