NZ’s Pandemic Planning 20 Years out of Date, Auditor General Warns

Despite COVID-19 demonstrating its unpreparedness New Zealand has still not updated its 20-year-old pandemic plan, and is at risk of not having enough vaccines.

Needles from previous vaccine injections at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in New Zealand in a file photograph. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

The Auditor General has warned that New Zealand’s Ministry of Health is still relying on a pandemic plan that was shown to be inadequate when COVID-19 struck in 2020.

While there has been sporadic progress in implementing the recommendations his office made at that time, there is still a significant risk of the country not having enough supplies of antivirals or vaccines if another pandemic were to strike.