About the Royal Commission of Inquiry
Mō te Uiui a te Kōmihana Rōera

Te Tira Ārai Urutā – the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned was established by the Government in December 2022 to capture the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and help Aotearoa New Zealand prepare to face future pandemics.

The Inquiry took place over two phases. Phase One ran from December 2022 to November 2024 and looked at a range of aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand's response to COVID-19: the public health response, the provision of goods and services, the economic response, and Government communication and decision making. The Phase One report was released in November 2024.

Phase Two of the Inquiry was announced by the Government in June 2024. The purpose of this phase was to look more deeply at certain aspects of the pandemic response, like vaccine mandates and lockdowns, as well as to consider some areas not included in Phase One, specifically vaccine safety. Phase Two began collecting evidence on 29 November 2024.

Phase Two was led by three Commissioners: Grant Illingworth KC (Chair), Anthony Hill, and Judy Kavanagh. Phase Two was directed to review key decisions made by the New Zealand Government between February 2021 and October 2022 in the following areas:

• The use of vaccines to manage COVID-19, including the use of mandates, the approval of vaccines, and vaccine safety (including the monitoring and reporting of adverse reactions). Adverse reactions are harmful effects suspected to be caused by a medicine or vaccine.
• The use of lockdowns in 2021 and 2022, especially the national lockdown in August and September 2021 and the Auckland/Northland extended lockdown in September 2021.
• Testing, tracing, and other public health tools. How Aotearoa New Zealand accessed and developed testing and tracing tools (like RAT tests) and other public health materials (like face masks) and the role the private sector played in getting access to and developing these tools and materials.

When reviewing these key decisions, the Inquiry considered:

• If the Government took into account the impact these decisions might have on our society, our health and education, and on our economy compared to how much these decisions would help manage COVID-19.
• If these decisions reflected advice given to Government, or international data.
• If these decisions produced consequences that couldn't have been predicted.
• New Zealand's circumstances and the information the Government had access to at the time the decision was made.

Based on the review of these key decisions, the Inquiry provided recommendations to the Government on things that should be considered when making decisions during a pandemic in the future.

Some areas of the COVID-19 pandemic response were out of scope for the Inquiry, which means the Inquiry will not make recommendations on the following areas:

• Particular clinical decisions made by clinicians (like doctors) or public health authorities.
• How COVID-19 measures were applied to individual cases.
• The approvals and regulation of vaccines other than the COVID-19 vaccines.
• The specific epidemiology of the COVID-19 virus, for example, the origin of the virus.
• The recent reforms to the health system.
• The judgements of the court system and other agencies like the Ombudsman, the Privacy Commissioner, or the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
• The operation of private businesses, unless they delivered services important to the pandemic response.
• Decisions made by the Reserve Bank's independent monetary policy committee.
• How court procedures and parliament processes were adapted during the pandemic.
• The conduct of the general election during the pandemic.

The Inquiry gathered information in a range of ways:

• Interviews with key decision-makers and advisors.
• Engagements with organisations and community groups about their experiences of the pandemic.
• Public hearings with organisations and community groups about their experiences of the pandemic.
• Collecting written information from Government agencies and other organisations.
• Inviting public submissions on experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• The public submissions process.

The Inquiry's Phase Two report was delivered to the Governor-General on 26 February 2026.