Discovery Vitality announced today that it will be awarding members of its Vitality program aged 18 or older 2500 Vitality points for being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021.
According to a statement released by the South African health insurance provider, these points will be awarded retrospectively in October for those who have already been vaccinated.
“If members have already been vaccinated, there is nothing more they need to do – points will be automatically allocated before the end of the year. Members will receive communications with further details in October,” says Discovery Vitality CEO Dinesh Govender.
Govender says that the allocation of Vitality points – used to incentivise members towards positive behaviour change – is in line with Discovery’s shared-value business model.
“Vitality creates shared value by combining behavioural economics, clinical science, and incentives to encourage and reward members for taking steps to improve their health.”
What the Science Says
“There is overwhelming proof that vaccination is the single most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and others against COVID-19. The pandemic has been deadly and a fourth wave is likely, yet the ability to suppress it remains within our control. Based on our actuarial projections, over 30,000 lives could be saved if we are able to vaccinate the majority of our population over the coming months,” Govender says.
“The data reflects the power of vaccination to save lives and reduce our healthcare burden: vaccination reduces infection and transmission risk by 50 to 80%, reduces hospitalisation risk by 60 to 90%, and reduces the risk of death by over 90%. In fact, while your (unvaccinated) risk of death from COVID-19 is 8 to 10 times higher than death from flu, once vaccinated, your risk of death from COVID-19 is lower than from flu.”
“Given that vaccination is our best hope of beating the pandemic and restoring our national vitality and way of life, we need to encourage vaccination at scale,” he concludes.
Discovery to Make Vaccines Mandatory for its Employees
Discovery is making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all staff from the beginning of next year, following the lead of several major global companies, from banks to airlines, in insisting on inoculation of employees.
The company, which is also SA’s largest medical-scheme administrator, is making the rule to ensure the safety of its employees, according to a statement by Adrian Gore, founder and group CEO.
Edited by Luis Monzon
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