Helen Clark is urging countries not to give up on pandemic management once they reach vaccination targets.
Clark told Morning Report even if a country reaches 90 percent vaccinated that doesn't mean the pandemic has gone away.
"Don't throw away the rest of the toolkit because you need it to control transmission among those who aren't vaccinated, which may be the 8 to 10 percent here, but it's also, at the moment anyone under 12 years of age."
Clark also pointed out there are some countries where vaccination coverage was nowhere near New Zealand's.
"The rollout of vaccinations in Sub Saharan Africa would still scarcely exceed 6 percent of total population, which is, of course, really almost no coverage at all."
Clark was speaking about a new report commissioned by the World Health Organisation, which warned the world is moving too slowly in ending the coronavirus pandemic.
It says resources have been concentrated towards the developed world while people are continuing to die in poorer countries where there is little or no access to vaccines.
The report says the failure to work together is also leaving the world unprepared for the next pandemic.
