Watch: Sir Ashley Bloomfield knighted

Sir Ashley Bloomfield, who helped lead New Zealand's Covid-19 pandemic response, has been knighted.

He was made a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit as part of the New Year 2023 Honours.

Today, he knelt before Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro to formally receive his honour in Wellington.

Sir Ashley stood down as Director General of Health last year, having led the country's health response for much of the pandemic.

He now works for the University of Auckland and has become an ambassador for Southern Cross’ well-being campaign.

He previously told 1News about what he thought his greatest achievement was.

"Taking on an elimination approach and being able to successfully deliver on that, and it was tough on everybody," he said.

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"And of course the second great achievement was the roll out of our vaccination programme and the fact that so many Kiwis got fully vaccinated.

"It really put us in a good position once omicron came along and elimination was no longer possible."