Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): On 1 April, we began our annual influenza vaccination season, and I'm pleased to report to the House that, on that day alone, 24,729 people got their flu jab. This year, the Government is ramping up the flu vaccination campaign, with 40 percent more free flu shots available this year as part of the COVID-19 winter plan. This means that, while New Zealand usually uses about 1.4 million flu doses a year, this year the Government is making 2 million doses available while widening eligibility for people to get vaccinated for free. In an ordinary year, flu kills more than 500 New Zealanders, but this is no ordinary year because, for the past two years with the country closed to the rest of the world because of the pandemic, we've been largely free of colds and flu, and so this year we must be prepared for a much higher incidence of them.