CO VID-19 VACCINE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WEEKLY REPORT
Week ending:
11 September 2020
Priority:
Routine
Security
In Confidence
Tracking number: 2021-0854
classification:
Action sought
Deadline
Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern
Note the contents of this Weekly Report
N/A
Prime Minister
Hon Grant Robertson
Minister of Finance
Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Research, Science and
Innovation
Hon Chris Hipkins
Minister of Health
Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Peter Crabtree
General Manager Science, Innovation and International
11 / 09 / 2020
Minister’s comments:
IN CONFIDENCE
COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy
Implementation
Weekly Report
Week beginning 11 September 2020
0
VACCINE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WEEKLY REPORT
Pu rpose
This weekly joint report updates Ministers on key developments of the implementation of the COVID-19 Vaccine
Strat egy.
W orkstreams
Strategy and Policy
Contact: Simon Rae
Phone:
9(2)(a)
Indemnity
MBIE and the Ministry of Health are preparing business cases for the Treasury setting out the benefits and risks of
giving indemnities as part of both the COVAX Facility and bilateral Advance Purchase Agreements. The Treasury will
takes the business cases into account in providing advice to the Minister of Finance on whether the public interest test
in the Public Finance Act is met.”
Advance Purchase Agreements
Contact: Poppy Haynes
Phone:
9(2)(a)
This week the Advance Purchase Agreement (APA) team has been progressing engagements with five pharmaceutical
companies. Following initial calls last week, the APA team has set up three scientific briefings between our scientific
review panel and the pharmaceutical companies. These briefings are an opportunity for our scientific advisors to
receive the latest clinical data and trial results directly from the vaccine developers and ask any questions they may
have regarding a potential vaccine. Following these briefings, scientific advisors will undertake an independent
analysis, before providing advice on the vaccine candidate, which will be reflected in the advice to Ministers on
whether to sign an APA.
This week we also met with our external commercial advisers to review our approach to negotiating advance purchase
agreements.
We have been developing a general set of negotiating priorities to ensure any APAs entered into reflect New Zealand’s
best interests. These priorities will give effect to the purchasing strategy agreed by Ministers. Developed in
cooperation with MoH, MFAT and PHARMAC the negotiating priorities outline our preferred position on areas such as
indemnities, supply agreements, and ability to donate to our Pacific neighbours.
As we advised last week, we have been negotiating the Heads of Terms with a pharmaceutical company for a vaccine
that may start be available in early 2021. We are also working through logistical matters with the company, include
cold-chain requirements and other handling details. We have received a Heads of Terms for another candidate this
week, and will work with MoH, MFAT, PHARMAC and our external advisors to negotiate our preferred position to
ensure New Zealand’s priorities are met in the agreement. We expect to receive two further draft agreements in the
coming week.
Once due diligence and sufficient scientific advice has been received, the Task Force will assess the suitability of the
offer, and we will brief joint ministers with a recommendation on whether we should sign any APAs.
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VACCINE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WEEKLY REPORT
Immunisation Strategy
Contact: Allison Bennett
Phone: 9(2)(a)
The COVID-19 Health System Response directorate within the Ministry of Health has now been stood up.
A CO
VID-19 Immunisation Programme has been established, and resourcing, planning and governance is in place.
An Immunisation Implementation Advisory Group (IIAG) has now been established and will meet in the week of 14
September 2020. The IIAG will be responsible for providing independent, clinical and implementation
advice. Membership covers a diverse range of skills and includes Māori health expertise and significant Māori
representation. The first substantive agenda item of the IIAG will be to consider criteria for a prioritisation framework.
Policy work is underway to ensure there is a shared understanding of the definition and size of certain population
cohorts of interest. This will help us to understand the likely impact of prioritisation decisions.
Scenario planning is being progressed iteratively. The scenarios are providing the basis on which to consider variables
and, as the level of certainty increases, form a basis for implementation decisions to be made from which to deliver
the COVID-19 Immunisation Programme. They will be refined as further information and evidence emerges.
The Ministry of Health will update the Minister of Health on progress with the COVID-19 Immunisation Programme on
11 September 2020. The update includes the working assumptions and sample variables for the scenario planning.
COVAX
Contact: Glenys Karran
Phone: 9(2)(a)
We are working with other agencies to further progress the communications strategy and are in the early stages of
connecting with the COVID-19 Health System Response directorate to ensure our approach and messaging is aligned,
and that MoH are well placed to lead communications during the immunisation roll-out phase.
New Zealand has submitted a non-binding Confirmation of Intent (COI) to Participate in the COVAX Facility, signed by
the Director-General of Health and with approval of Joint Ministers (Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Minister of Research, Science and Innovation, Minister of Health, and Minister of Finance). The letter signalled our
interest in procuring enough doses for 50 percent of the population of the Realm of New Zealand using the Optional
Purchase (as opposed to Committed Purchase) financing model. We understand a total of 80 economies have
submitted COIs so far. This, combined with the 92 developing countries eligible for the ODA-funded COVAX Advance
Market Commitment (AMC), means that 172 economies in total intend to participate in the COVAX Facility. Binding
Commitment Agreements are due on 18 September, and initial payments are due on 9 October. Officials are drafting
advice to Joint Ministers on these decisions, accompanied by a business case on associated indemnities for
consideration by the Minister of Finance.
New Zealand is exchanging views with partners on the COVAX Facility Terms and Commitment Agreement in the
Friends of the (COVAX) Facility (FOF) context and in bilateral discussions, including with Republic of Korea and Canada
(3 September), Australia (4 September), and Singapore and Japan (9 September). New Zealand has drafted of a non-
paper with Australian counterparts on the COVAX Facility governance structure and decision-making process, and a
fifth capital-based FOF meeting is scheduled for 11 September to discuss governance, allocation and other key issues.
MFAT is leading consultation with Gavi this week on a set of key questions regarding the Terms and Commitment
Agreement, including to determine how Realm populations can be factored into any associated liability/indemnity
obligations. Officials are also exploring how New Zealand can support access to vaccines for Polynesia further to our
NZ$7 million contribution to the COVAX AMC, including, possibly, by building additional doses for Polynesian countries
into our Advance Purchasing Agreements with suppliers.
MBIE is working closely with MFAT and relevant agencies to explore the potential for a press release to announce a
binding commitment to the COVAX facility. The legally binding deadline is September 18
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VACCINE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WEEKLY REPORT
Science and Manufacturing
Contact: Justine Daw
Phone: 9(2)(a)
Science advice
We are working closely with the Science and Technical Advisory Group to ensure science advice continues to inform
the a
dvance purchasing agreement negotiations. As part of this work, we will be inviting senior MedSafe officials to
participate alongside Advisory Group members in the science briefings to officials given by vaccine candidate
suppliers.
Manufacturing
You will receive a separate briefing for the visit by the Prime Minister and Hon. Woods to South Pacific Sera (SPS) on
the 15th of September. The visit will enable early-stage discussions on the potential for SPS to broaden its current
focus on animal vaccine manufacture operations to include human vaccine manufacture.
In the meantime, we continue to develop thinking on future domestic vaccine manufacturing capability and
capacity. We have commissioned and are reviewing an initial draft of an independent survey of New Zealand’s
current vaccine manufacturing capability and its suitability for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing. This confirms our
earlier assessments, and adds to a growing knowledge base of industry requirements for manufacturing, both from
individual company engagement (for example, this week we discussed possibilities for NZ-based manufacturing with
CSL/Seqirus in Australia), and engagement with pharmaceutical companies more broadly as part of the purchasing
strategy. It is now clear that the opportunities for contract manufacturing globally are predominantly for production
in the next 6 months. This will likely preclude any short-term opportunities for onshore Covid-19
manufacture. However, from a strategic standpoint, including in terms of managing sovereign risk, we continue to see
benefit in developing the foundations for a medium-term onshore manufacturing capability. This is in line with the
wider vaccine strategy, which aims to maximise options for New Zealand to manage risk in a highly uncertain
operating environment, and provide resilience to future pandemics. We will prepare further advice for Ministers on
these issues.
Communications
Contact: Karl Fergusson
Phone: 9(2)(a)
Stakeholder engagement
We anticipate a high degree of interest in the Task Force and its efforts to secure a vaccine. Given this, we are working
closely with other agencies in the Task Force to identify a comprehensive group of stakeholders and an appropriate
approach to managing the needs and interests of these stakeholders. As part of ‘Phase 2’ of our Communications
strategy, we anticipate providing a range of regular stakeholder briefings ahead of a vaccine roll-out. We are also
investigating other communications channels, such as a regular email communication or similar, to support our
stakeholder approach.
Media management
We are working with the Task Force negotiating team to make arrangements with pharmaceutical companies to
ensure a ‘no surprises’ approach to communications. This should ensure that we receive a heads up on any planned
announcements from pharmaceutical suppliers. This will allow us to proactively publicise the signing of APAs, and plan
for how we communicate about key milestones as the research and potential for distribution of a successful vaccine
progresses.
As part of this no-surprises approach, we are working with MFAT to proactively capture information from posts on
announcements which may have an impact on New Zealand, in particular, Australia. This information will allow us to
respond proactively, such as developing key messages, briefing stakeholders etc when required.
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VACCINE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WEEKLY REPORT
We have developed and agreed an approach with the Task Force agencies to centralise COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy-
related media queries through the MBIE team. This is to ensure consistency of response; have a single point of entry
for media; and that media queries and centrally ‘triaged’ with agencies as required, recognising that queries often
require multi-part answers.
Communications planning
A key
focus continues to be identifying proactive opportunities to demonstrate to New Zealanders the progress that is
being made in implementing the Vaccine strategy. Upcoming opportunities include the signing up to the COVAX
Facility, and announcements about the securing of successful APAs. We are working closely with the Task Force
negotiating team to agree with pharmaceutical companies how announcements about APAs are planned and
implemented. We anticipate the first proactive announcement about APAs to be made in early October, at the
earliest. If agreements are reached sooner, we will look to secure agreed publicity at that point.
Communications risks
We have identified a range of scenarios that could potentially undermine trust and confidence in the Government’s
response to securing a suitable COVID-19 vaccine. We are developing a risk based approach to these scenarios and
identifying what policy or communications response might be required, if any.
Recent Briefings
Date
Briefing
Title
Sign Out Manager
Number
Proactive release of Cabinet paper – Vaccine Strategy funding
Simon Rae
09/09/2020
2021-0845
envelope
Upcoming Briefings
Due Date
Briefing
Title
Sign Out Manager
Number
TBC
Strategic assessment of COVID-19 vaccine portfolio
Simon Rae
(October2020)
Approval to sign binding Heads of Agreement for first Advance
Poppy Haynes
TBC
TBC
Purchase Agreement
11/09/2020
COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy – Update on Manufacturing options
Simon Rae
COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy – COVAX Facility Binding
Peter Crabtree
11/09/2020
Commitment Agreement and Upfront Payment
11/09/2020
Event Briefing: Visit to South Pacific Sera
Peter Crabtree
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