Abstract
Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) has reached a key milestone in pandemic preparedness with the release of the second and final report of the NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic response. The two Inquiry reports in combination offer extensive analysis and a wealth of valuable recommendations.
The critical next step is the NZ Government’s response. This response is urgent given that modelling suggests around a 20% chance of a Covid-scale pandemic each decade and there are growing expert concerns around catastrophic pandemics such as those from engineered pathogens.
Priorities include: supporting the critical pandemic prevention and early detection role of the World Health Organization; establishing highly strategic response mechanisms, including the capacity for exclusion and elimination for the most severe pandemics requiring rapid border closure; and strengthening infrastructure such as a potential national Centres for Disease Control and a pandemic agreement with Australia.
The Government must pay close attention to the recommendations of the Inquiry Reports they commissioned and take swift concrete action to ensure NZ is prepared for the next pandemic.