Momentum calls for faster vaccine rollout

MOMENTUM Metropolitan Holdings yesterday called on the government to speed up the vaccination programme of South Africans to curb a possible third wave of infections in the country.

South Africa has vaccinated more than 80 000 of its citizens through the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, mostly health-care workers, as of Wednesday.

Chief executive Hillie Meyer (pictured) said the country needed to act with speed and vaccinate more of its citizens as the third wave outbreak remained a big concern for both the country and the economy.

“We must look beyond the four vaccinations that we are currently looking at. There are about 10 vaccinations that are currently available throughout the globe and there are another 10 potential vaccinations that we can look at. We need to be more ambitious and the time we take to vaccinate is too long. We must do it quickly, because the third and fourth waves remain a threat,” Meyer said.

This comes after South Africa’s largest insurance-based financial services groups said it had increased its Covid-19 provision by an additional R655 million, net of tax, in the six months to the end of December.

“The additional provision was in addition to a provision of R983m net of tax that we set aside in the previous financial year. This Covid-19 provision relates to potential increased mortality claims, increases in terminations, reduced return-to-work experience on disability income claims in payment, and business interruption claims,” the group said.