There are calls for the financial burden of having a severe allergy to be lifted.
In an effort to assist those requiring the medicine, 2500 EpiPens are set to be given to children in need thanks to a collaboration between Allergy New Zealand and Pub Charity.
Allergy New Zealand chief executive Mark Dixon says the devices are a cost burden for many families.
"The problem is that they expire, and so every year families have to come up with at least $120 for one pen," says Dixon.
He says the pens should be publicly funded.
"We be shouldn't be having to do this. This is a life-saving medicine that should be available to all Kiwis in a first-world country with a free health system."
Each pen can cost between $120 and $350 and can only be used once.
Newshub.
