The Ministry of Education turned down air purifiers taken out of MIQ hotels for use in schools at a time when Omicron was surging and it was still waiting for its own order to arrive in the country.
More than 3000 of the second-hand air cleaners were offered to schools in March, when Covid-19 community case numbers were in the tens-of-thousands each day.
Instead the filters were snapped up by hospitals, dental clinics and other community providers.
Amy Williams has the story.
