Meningitis Foundation Urges Govt To Support Seymour Call To Increase Medicines Funding For Pharmac

The Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand is voicing its total support for comments made by Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Health Minister (Pharmac) Hon David Seymour, who has signalled he is pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional drug funding in the 2026 Budget.

The Minister has expressed concern about the accessibility of medicines in New Zealand and is gathering evidence to justify the higher spend, while Pharmac and the Ministry of Health prepare a joint bid for greater investment in medicines in the next Budget.

The Meningitis Foundation says any increase must include wider access to lifesaving meningococcal vaccines, ensuring free and equitable protection for all young people aged 13 to 25 — regardless of their living situation.

“New Zealand spends well below the OECD average on medicines — around 0.4 percent of GDP, compared to 1.4 percent across the OECD and 0.7 percent in Australia,” says Foundation Chair Gerard Rushton.

“We welcome the Minister’s recognition that this underinvestment is costing lives and opportunities. A funding uplift would allow Pharmac to move faster on vaccines and treatments that prevent avoidable deaths, including meningococcal disease.”

Gerard Rushton, who is attending the Valuing Life – Medicines Access Summit 2025 at Parliament, which begins today, says the Meningitis Foundation strongly supports efforts to improve Pharmac’s processes and responsiveness, but warns that meningococcal vaccines must not remain stuck on the agency’s “Options for Investment” list.

“The current system creates unnecessary delays for vaccines that have already proven effective. The inclusion of meningococcal vaccines for infants and under-fives on the Aotearoa Immunisation Register in 2023 led to a significant increase in uptake, and a ~63% decrease in cases of meningococcal B in the age group in 2023 compared to 2022. This proves that wider access to vaccines has a significant positive impact. We now need the same opportunity for rangatahi and young adults,” he says.

The Foundation is calling for meningococcal vaccines to be fully funded, rather than left to languish in Pharmac’s queue due to a lack of available funding. Gerard Rushton says that funding meets the threshold for social investment intervention and Pharmac needs to prioritise the development of tools to consider societal impacts when assessing medicines.

“Every young person deserves equitable access to vaccines. Expanding access will save lives, reduce health inequities, and bring New Zealand closer towards the vaccine equity that exists in comparable OECD countries,” he says.

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