Saliva test provider spitting tacks at ministry

The Ministry of Health wanted to implement daily saliva testing in quarantine facilities in January – but six months later it remains infrequently used.

It is now facing criticism – which it rejects – that it has been the main obstacle to rolling out the testing in MIQ facilities because of the technical advice it has given to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

A saliva PCR test is far less invasive than the nasopharyngeal PCR test, but there are conflicting views on whether it is sensitive enough to become the main test.

Saliva tests have been pushed for since last September, when a review by Sir Brian Roche and Heather Simpson said it should be introduced as soon as possible.

So far only 394 tests have been conducted – almost all of them in the Jet Park quarantine facility.

This week, Hipkins stressed his own frustrations about the lack of a rollout of saliva testing for border workers, while an independent advisory group has called for it to be the main form of testing.

Ministry of Health documents – released to National MP Chris Bishop – show the ministry wanted daily saliva tests in January for workers in MIQ facilities with quarantine wings.

This was ready to be rolled out on a voluntary basis to supplement – but not replace – the standard nasopharyngeal PCR swab.

It aimed for 80 per cent update by the end of the first month – or

2160 workers out of an estimated

2700 quarantine wing workers. But by February 17, only 170 samples had been collected.

Bishop said it was almost comical to consider how long it had taken to come only so far.

Meanwhile Rako Science, provider of saliva testing to Air NZ, accuses the ministry of using its own experts, “who went out of their way to cast doubt on Rako’s science”.

Rako director Leon Grice said the company’s protocols had been “diagnostically validated” as “at least as sensitive and accurate as nasopharyngeal swab tests”.

“Rako Science has tremendous sympathy for Minister Hipkins having to base his decisions on inadequate advice from expert advisers, fixated on trying to develop and deploy their own saliva test.”

This comment was directed at the ministry’s decision in May to contract Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG) for saliva testing at MIQ sites.

The ministry has said it went through a comprehensive procurement process before contracting APHG. A spokesperson said it continued to be in discussions with Rako Science.

A spokesman for Hipkins declined to comment on whether he had been poorly advised, saying only that the minister wanted more saliva testing – but it was too early to say if it should be the main form of testing for border workers.

Hipkins has previously suggested worker reluctance playing a role in the low use of saliva testing, as workers must not smoke, eat or drink for half an hour before testing.

He has also said there is no barrier from his end to wider use of saliva tests at the border.

A public health order in April paved the way for saliva testing to be used for a border workers’ mandatory regular test.

But it needs sign off from director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield, who is yet to provide it.

A ministry briefing to Hipkins on April 30 did not recommend saliva testing for symptomatic cases or as the main surveillance testing tool.