People line up at a Covid-19 vaccination centre Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A vaccinologist is warning that restricting access to the Covid-19 vaccine could send a message that it is no longer important.
Covid-19 vaccines and boosters have always been provided free-of-charge - but that funding commitment is due to expire at the end of June next year.
It is possible the government could move to a more targeted approach like with flu vaccines - where only vulnerable populations get them for free.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report whether or not some people might be charged for Covid-19 vaccinations later next year was one of a raft of issues new Health Minister Shane Reti was looking into.
But Helen Petousis-Harris from Auckland University said if people were required to pay for the vaccines themselves it would lead to "poorer outcomes".
"If people have to pay out of their pocket you immediately put a fairly substantial obstacle to actually people getting vaccinated."
Vaccines which were not funded "no matter how good they are" were not perceived as being as important, she said.
However, if vaccines were "free and easy to get, that makes a huge difference".
New Zealand is currently experiencing its fifth wave of Covid-19, but Petousis-Harris said it was not just acute infections that needed to be taken into account.
The burden of people developing Long Covid also needed to be weighed, she said.
"There's a lot of reasons why we want to see good coverage."
And while protection from existing Covid-19 vaccine formulas was beginning to wane, the newer vaccines were more effective against current variants, she said.
"There are new formulations and we expect to see those shortly in New Zealand; they're going to do a better job."
Medsafe last week said it had accepted applications for the latest updates of the Pfizer and Novovax Covid-19 vaccines and would begin reviewing them.
Luxon told RNZ he believed Pharmac funding for some vaccinations needed to continue.
However he could not say whether funding for Covid-19 vaccinations for those at lower risk of infection would continue after June.
"The first major problem we've got is that the [previous] government wasn't planning to fund Pharmac beyond June next year, which is quite outrageous."
Dr Reti would "work his way through" though considerations and figure out the best way to deliver the necessary health services to people, Luxon said.
Reti on Sunday told the New Zealand Herald that Pharmac funding for both Covid-19 vaccines and antivirals was due to come to an end on 30 June, 2024.
