Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): This Government has taken seriously its responsibility to keep New Zealanders safe from avoidable harm, and, on this basis, tens of thousands of lives have been saved because of the way we responded to COVID-19. However, it's important that we also capture what we've learnt from the response so far, and, for this reason, I've announced, today, the establishment of a $9 million research fund to look at our response and ways that will contribute to future health system planning. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have far-reaching impacts on our communities, and while research, so far, about New Zealand's COVID-19 response and conduct of the National Immunisation Programme has already provided valuable insight and enabled the rapid application of national and international evidence, today's funding will allow a deeper look into how we responded. A request for proposals for research opens on 19 April, and I look forward to seeing how many successful proposals we get to use this important opportunity.