Free Vape Kits Won’t Deliver Smokefree 2025 Goal

The Government’s new smokefree initiative to distribute free vape ‘starter’ kits will help fewer than 500 people to quit smoking, according to new analysis from public health experts.

In the latest Public Health Communication Centre Briefing, researchers from the University of Otago assess the likely impact of the initiative, which offers free vape kits through 24 Te Whatu Ora-funded stop smoking services across the country.

Research Fellow Calvin Cochran says even under the most optimistic assumptions, the policy will support just 466 people to become smokefree long-term, less than 1% of the more than 82,000 who would need to stop smoking to reach the Smokefree 2025 goal.

“While the Government’s vape kit initiative is well-intentioned, it is not enough. Our analysis suggests between 230 to 470 people will quit smoking long-term as a result of the programme, depending on quit and relapse rates. And some of these people may have quit even without the free kits.”

The authors point out that the Smokefree goal, adopted in 2011, aimed for daily smoking of prevalence of less than 5% of all population groups, which requires higher cessation rates. “To reach the target equitably, more than 62,500 Māori, 21,000 Pacific Peoples and 34,700 European/other would need to stop smoking. The goal has already been reached in the Asian population.”

“The evidence is clear: the free vape kits will barely shift the dial,” says Mr Cochran. “We urgently need stronger, population-level action to reduce smoking rapidly and equitably.”

The authors are calling for urgent implementation of proven strategies to reduce smoking, including denicotinisation—the removal of nicotine from tobacco products to non-addictive levels—to rapidly reduce smoking prevalence across all groups.

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