Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has distributed over 7000 vaping devices and 67,000 refills in just two months as it ramps up its free vape programme for smokers.
It comes after health officials signed a contract with a New Zealand-owned vape company to provide the devices, which come in flavours including tobacco and peach mint.
Health NZ began a pilot to provide vaping devices to quit-smoking services across the country last year – with varying degrees of success.
Newstalk ZB revealed that between last January and July, 3000 people received a kit, and 1400 of them successfully quit smoking.
Officials decided to push ahead with a wider rollout, asking for tenders from vape companies for a deal it described as a “significant opportunity”.
In documents provided to vape companies, Health NZ talked up the PR benefits of a deal, saying “[it will] enhance the supplier’s profile and credibility as a trusted partner in the regulated vaping market, with visibility across New Zealand’s health system”.
Officials signed a $500,000 contract with New Zealand-owned vape company Alt NZ Limited on December 8, with vapes provided soon after.
The company owns the alt brand of vapes, which are sold at more than 5000 retailers across the country.
Since then, 7290 devices and 67,750 pods have been dispatched to smoking cessation services nationwide.
Flavours for the free vapes include mint, menthol, peach mint, and tobacco.
The deal is substantially more cost-effective for the agency. The previous contract with another provider for the pilot period delivered 3000 vaping kits at a cost of $575,000.
Asthma and Respiratory Foundation chief executive Letitia Harding said comparing the harms of smoking to vaping is like comparing one extremely harmful drug to a less harmful one.
“It’s still a drug. We know that vaping causes harm to the lungs, to the heart. We don’t know the long-term data – that’s the big unknown.”
She said other nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) options, like nicotine gum or patches, should be tried ahead of vapes.
“If that‘s failed, then vaping would be an option. But it really would be the last option.”
She said it’s “crazy” that the health system will fund a product with no medical approval like vapes – but doesn’t fund new Medsafe-approved tools like QuickMist, which sprays a mist with a low level of nicotine to assist those wanting to quit.
“Consumers still have to pay for that, but they’re funding a half-million-dollar contract for something with no medical approval.”
General Practitioners Aotearoa chair Dr Buzz Burrell said there could be a place for the devices – but it’s too early to know.
“The GP community has been watching the results of these vape trials around the world with interest, and while I’m very open to entertaining the idea that they may be helpful, I and my peers are not ready to support handing out flavoured nicotine vapes.
“When push comes to shove, the Government needs to have a very high bar for harm reduction before it starts spending taxpayer money on nicotine products.”
Jonathan Deverey, chair of the Vaping Industry Association of New Zealand, says criticism of Health NZ ignores evidence and the urgent need for harm reduction.
“Since vaping became widely available in 2018, New Zealand’s daily smoking rate has halved – one of the fastest declines in our history. This is not a coincidence; it reflects smokers successfully switching away from combustible tobacco.”
“We are not trading one harmful drug for another. We are comparing combustible tobacco – which kills two-thirds of long-term users – with a smoke-free alternative that eliminates the tar and toxic by-products of combustion responsible for cancer and lung disease.
“Vaping is not risk-free, but the scientific consensus is clear: it is substantially less harmful than smoking.”
Deverey is also a director of Alt NZ Limited, which holds the contract with Health NZ.
Ethan Griffiths is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, based in the parliamentary press gallery. He joined NZME as a print journalist in 2020, previously working as a general reporter in Whanganui and an Open Justice reporter in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington.