Health Minister Andrew Little is failing to protect New Zealanders after allowing $21 million worth of vaccines to expire, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“In the last few weeks Health Minister Andrew Little has been exposed for allowing a large amount of vaccines to expire: $8 million of measles vaccines, $1.6 million of meningococcal vaccines, and now a staggering $12 million for expired shingles vaccines.

“That is a total cost of $21 million worth of vaccines that have sat unused.

“Minister Little’s botched vaccination campaigns have consequently failed to protect Kiwis from infectious disease, such as meningitis.

“Worse still, that wasted $21 million could have been put towards funding other health areas, such as the backlog of 50,000 mammograms which could be cleared for $15 million.

“Routine immunisations are failing under this Government. Some of it is due to Covid-19 disruptions, but it is also due to the Minister being distracted by his expensive health restructure rather than keeping New Zealanders safe.

“This is a Government that is all spin and no delivery. Labour’s only measure of success is how much it spends on things, but New Zealand needs a Health Minister who is focused on delivering health outcomes to Kiwis.

“Minister Little needs to explain how he has allowed so many vaccines to expire and what he will do to avoid wasting valuable health resources again.”

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