Executive summary
Whakarāpopototanga matua

Public submissions and sectoral and regional engagements
Ngā tuku kōrero tūmatanui me ngā tūtakitanga tūtanga, a rohe hoki

Phase Two of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Government response to COVID-19 invited public submissions between 3 February and 27 April 2025.

Additionally, the Inquiry engaged directly with 108 representatives or individuals which provided the Inquiry with a diverse range of perspectives and insights from those who were directly impacted by key Government decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic response in 2021 and 2022.

The public engagement process was not a random sample, therefore the weight of opinions expressed in this report is not representative of the general population.

The public's response | Te urupare a te iwi whānui

In total, 31,822 public submissions were received.

Submissions were categorised based on the prevailing sentiment of commentary:

• Around 85 percent of submissions were broadly critical of the Government response
• Around 12 percent of submissions broadly supported the Government response
• Around 3 percent submissions had a mixed view of the Government response.

In total, 108 sector and regional representatives were met with across Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Health providers
• Local government
• Māori and Pacific communities
• Ethnic and faith-based groups
• Disabled people
• Academics
• Advocacy groups
• Young people
• Business leaders
• Educational representatives
• Professional bodies

Overview of outcomes | Te tirohanga whānui o ngā hua

All submissions were read and coded (sorted) by theme and sentiment, and further coding identified submitters’ rationale that informed their opinions (where stated):

The main aspects of the response that were criticised were:

• Vaccine mandates: 67 percent of submitters
• Vaccine safety, approval, and rollout topics by almost half(47 percent) of submitters
• Lockdowns by 34 percent of submitters.

The response in its entirety or general aspects of it were criticised by 30 percent of submitters.The following aspects of the response to COVID-19 were positively appraised:

• Lockdowns: received the highest amount of praise, from nine percent of submitters
• Public health tools: such as masks, testing, tracing, and PPE attracted positive comments from seven percent of submitters. The same proportion also made positive comments about the overall response
• Vaccine mandates were supported by five percent of submitters and vaccine safety, approval, and rollout also received supportive comments from five percent of submitters.

The opinions of sector and regional bodies that are interspersed throughout this report tend to have a more specific focus than the public submissions; they address the operational and service delivery details that were helped or hindered by the Government response to the pandemic.