11.2 Introduction Kupu whakataki
Home Reports Main Report Part Three: Moving Forward 11.2 Introduction
This chapter sets out what we recommend the government and its agencies do to ensure Aotearoa New Zealand is pandemic-ready and resilient.ii
The Looking Back chapters of this report demonstrate that the challenge of responding well to a pandemic does not fall on central government alone – communities, iwi and Māori, non-governmental organisations, local government and the private sector all contributed enormously to the COVID-19 response and will doubtless do so again in another pandemic. These groups and others may well find aspects of our recommendations relevant to their own pandemic planning. However, our recommendations are directed at central government.iii
The recommendations give practical effect to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are not specific to that event. As we know, the next pandemic could well originate from a different pathogen that spreads and affects people quite differently, and it could require other response measures altogether. Our recommendations have therefore been designed to meet a range of possible pandemic scenarios. Some are also relevant to other kinds of national risks and emergency situations.
Like the lessons from which they arise, our recommendations are grounded in the evidence gathered during the Inquiry, including what we learned about other countries’ COVID-19 responses. The recommendations take account of what worked well and also what did not. Some recommendations reflect the views and suggestions of stakeholders we engaged with directly or who provided submissions. When we heard good ideas for improving pandemic preparedness and resilience, we took note and used them to inform our recommendations.
Our Inquiry confirmed the extent to which Aotearoa New Zealand is still reckoning with the impact of COVID-19. Regardless of its continuing shadow, the country may need to respond to another global pandemic at any moment; just in the period spent preparing this report, we have seen growing fears of avian flu pandemic and the spread of mpoxiv to countries with no previous documented transmission (including Aotearoa New Zealand).
We cannot predict whether the next pandemic will be triggered by a virus known to us or by an entirely new pathogen, whether it will be more deadly than COVID-19 or less, and whether it will be short-lived or protracted. What we can do is be ready for a range of possible pandemic scenarios. We therefore urge the Government to consider and implement these Phase One recommendations as soon as practicable. The minister charged with leading this work should receive regular progress reports on how the recommendations are being implemented at the all-of-government level and by individual agencies, and keep Parliament informed.
What’s in this chapter
Readers can engage with the recommendations in two ways. For those wanting a general overview of their intent and scope, section 11.3 groups and summarises the recommendations under six thematic headings.
Readers wanting to review the recommendations in full should consult the complete table of recommendations provided in section 11.4. This should include the officials who will need to consider, implement or monitor them. That table should be regarded as the definitive statement of the recommendations arising from Phase One of this Inquiry.
ii See section 5 of the Terms of Reference: ‘Matters upon which recommendations are sought: The inquiry should make recommendations on the public health strategies and supporting economic and other measures that New Zealand should apply in preparation for any future pandemic, in relation to the principal matters within the inquiry’s scope, by applying relevant lessons learned from New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and the response from comparable jurisdictions.’
iii We have used the term central government as the decisions and actions associated with the recommendations will require ministerial or Cabinet decisions and do not sit solely with officials to implement.
iv Avian flu (or ‘bird flu’) is an illness caused by an influenza virus that normally affects birds but can cross over to infect humans (as in the case of the H5N1 influenza virus). Mpox (previously known as monkeypox) is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a type of Orthopoxvirus.