More than 260,000 children between the ages of 6 months and five years will be eligible for a funded flu vaccine from today.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour and Health Minister Simeon Brown made the announcement this morning at Plunket in Wellington.
"Last week Pharmac announced that the flu vaccine will be funded for children aged 6 months up until their fifth birthday from 2027. The patient community said that wasn’t soon enough. Pharmac listened. Now, those children are eligible for a funded flu vaccine today," said Seymour.
Winter sickness keeps parts of the country in a chokehold, affecting schools, workplaces and aged care facilities. (Source: 1News)
He said winter was a challenging period for many Kiwis, and today's decision would "give families the support they need to manage the flu this year".
"Strong flu strains in recent years have made it much more difficult. Flu season puts a lot of pressure on households, workplaces, schools, and the health system.
"This is another example of the culture we are building at Pharmac. Pharmac funding the medicines that Kiwis need, based on the feedback of Kiwis in need," Seymour said.
Brown said the health system was currently managing one of the most severe flu seasons in years.
"New Zealand is experiencing its worst influenza season in a decade, with high levels of influenza-related illness and increasing pressure across primary care, emergency departments, and hospitals. While total winter hospitalisations are broadly in line with previous years, they have arrived all at once rather than spread across the season, and that concentration is what our hospitals and wider health system are experiencing right now.
"Young children get sicker from the flu than most people realise, and they are more likely to end up in hospital, with the youngest infants at the highest risk of all.
Nurses say they’re more overwhelmed than ever. (Source: 1News)
"They also spread it easily. A child picks it up at daycare, brings it home, and within days the whole household is unwell, with parents taking time off work to care for them or ending up sick themselves.
"That flows through to our hospitals, where emergency departments and paediatric wards fill up at the same time as staff are off sick. Every bed taken by a case of the flu is a bed not available for someone else.
"The evidence for vaccinating children aged six months to four years is clear. It reduces their chance of catching the flu, it reduces their chance of ending up in hospital, and it protects the people around them by cutting transmission. Bringing this funding forward means parents do not have to wait until next year to get that protection.
"Influenza does not stop when winter does, and I'd encourage anyone with a young child who isn't yet vaccinated to have a chat with their GP or pharmacy."
'Respond to public demand'
Speaking to media after the announcement, Seymour said "what you're seeing today is a Pharmac that is agile and can respond to public demand".
"You know, two years ago, Pharmac would have had the doors closed, the shutters up, and said, 'bugger off, we make the decision'. Now, Pharmac is working with the likes of Plunket and the Royal College of GPs responding to this very rapid uptick in flu data," he explained.
"As a result of the announcement last week, Pharmac had acquired the vaccines for next season, but they've also done a rapid review of the stock available in the country and found that there is enough to make this announcement now," he said.
Brown added: "From Health New Zealand's perspective, they are allocating some money to support the delivery, but also to promote the opportunity to as many parents as possible".
He said there had been a big push to get people vaccinated over all age groups and ethnicities this season.
"Health New Zealand's been running a big campaign for months. They've been running advertising campaigns, working with GPs and pharmacies to promote flu vaccines, they they regularly contact those, particularly over the age of 65, who are eligible," he said.
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