Our recommendations

We recommend that the Ministry of Health:

1. continue to be transparent in its public communications about supply risks and the potential impact on the roll-out schedule;
2. complete contingency plans for major risks, for example, vaccine doses do not arrive in New Zealand at the scheduled time or in the expected quantities, adequate workforce is not able to be secured, key systems are not ready on time, or a community outbreak of Covid-19;
3. continue to improve guidance to district health boards about the scenarios in which it is acceptable to depart from the sequencing framework and make this transparent to the public;
4. continue to work with district health boards and Māori, Pasifika, and disability health care providers to make sure equity considerations are fully embedded in delivery plans;
5. provide more clarity to primary health care providers (including general practitioners) about their role in the wider roll-out to ensure that they have adequate time to prepare; and
6. continue to strengthen efforts to raise public awareness of the immunisation programme in a way that:
   • ensures that communications are co-ordinated with key vaccination events;
   • encourages uptake of the vaccine; and
   • is tailored to different audiences, in particular Māori, Pasifika, people with disabilities, and harder-to-reach communities.