The Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand is calling on the Government to remove decisions around vaccination funding from Pharmac and incorporate it into Vote Health, the main source of funding for New Zealand's health system. The Foundation says that the shift would prevent further avoidable deaths and ensure fair, proactive access to lifesaving vaccines.

Foundation Chair Gerard Rushton says the current system, which relies on Pharmac to fund vaccines, creates unnecessary delays and discriminates against high-demand preventative medicines such as the meningococcal vaccine.

“We’ve seen through the recent measles campaign that waiting for outbreaks to occur before responding is an ambulance-at-the-bottom-of-the-cliff approach,” says Rushton.

“Prevention must come first. Vaccines save lives, reduce long-term healthcare costs, and strengthen community wellbeing. It’s time for vaccine funding to sit where it belongs — under Vote Health, not in a model designed for pharmaceutical treatments.”

The Foundation says the measles response has again highlighted the Government’s ability to act decisively when public health risks rise, yet vaccine preventable diseases such as meningococcal meningitis lack the same urgency.

“In just over a month, we’ve seen five meningococcal cases and three deaths, yet there’s been no comparable response from Health New Zealand or Pharmac,” Rushton says.

“We’ve been calling for support for years. If vaccine funding were managed under Vote Health, lifesaving vaccines like meningococcal B and ACWY could be implemented faster and more equitably. Preventative medicines like meningococcal vaccines deliver cost savings by avoiding hospitalisations and long-term disability and save lives. This initiative aligns with the Government’s focus on preventative health care and fits with Associate Minister of Health Hon David Seymour’s Letter of Expectation to Pharmac.”

“The Government has reinstating health targets to improve delivery of key health services. One of those targets is improved immunisation. It is an ambitious and worthy goal, but someone needs to fund the medicines that make it possible. In the case of meningococcal disease, our Pharmac funding application clearly laid out the significant savings from prevention. And yet, our application was declined.

“Pharmac’s funding model doesn’t cater to the real cost and value of prevention. Funding vaccines through Vote Health would allow the Government to treat vaccination as a core preventative healthcare, rather than as a discretionary cost item. It makes no sense to hold back funding for something that clearly saves lives and saves money.”

In Australia, it is estimated that a single case of meningococcal disease with complications costs the health system around AUD $10 million per patient, while a 2025 GSK-commissioned report by Evaluate Consulting found that adult vaccination programmes deliver a return of up to $2.17 for every dollar invested.

Rushton says the same principle applies, with even greater impact, for childhood and youth vaccination.

“Vaccination is one of the smartest investments a government can make. If we’re serious about prevention, then funding vaccines through Vote Health is the logical next step.”

The Foundation is urging Health Minister Hon Simeon Brown to review how vaccination programmes are funded, beginning with the meningococcal vaccines already proven to save lives.