HBF will offer paid wellness leave for its 1,000-plus staff members to encourage them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
HBF will offer paid wellness leave for its 1,000-plus staff members to encourage them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Daniel Heredia, the health insurer’s executive general manager of health services and a board member of WA Country Health Service, wrote to staff this past week encouraging them to book an appointment and get vaccinated, with a letter to members to follow at some stage this week.
Speaking to Business News, Dr Heredia said the insurer, which is which is set to exceed 1 million members with the acquisition of Brisbane-based insurer CUA Health, had a strong reach to encourage vaccine uptake with policyholders.
He said recent outbreaks in NSW provided evidence of the virulence of new strains of the virus.
“We believe we can’t be complacent,” Dr Heredia said.
“When things are quiet and when things are under control is the best time to do this, rather than a mad panic if we end up in an unfortunate situation where the virus does start to spread again.”
He said there was also a compelling economic argument to getting vaccinated.
“Everyone is getting quite frustrated, and a bit worn down … with how disruptive this virus is,” Dr Heredia said.
“When this all started in December [2019], a year and a half ago now, I don’t think anyone thought this would continue on for so long in terms of the impact on our lives, the impact on our economy.
“When we look overseas, we’re starting to get glimpses of what a life can look like if we get our vaccination rate up.”
Australia has so far fully vaccinated close to 9 per cent of its population, underperforming countries like the US and the UK, which had been severely impacted by community spread of COVID-19 throughout 2020.
The nation’s vaccine rollout has drawn significant criticism in recent months, with some political figures questioning the federal government’s reliance on locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines to meet its original targets.
While there have been several reported instances of blood clotting believed to be associated with that vaccine, Dr Heredia said it was important for patients to seek facts on the risk of significant complications relating to receiving the vaccine.
He said all interventions carried risks and benefits, and that the risk of death relative to the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine among targeted age groups remained low.
“It’s really important not to dismiss those concerns or to downplay them,” he said.
“The position we’re taking is one of information; we’re saying to people, ‘You absolutely should make an informed decision, but make it based on fact [and] be careful not to make your decision based on media and what you might read on Facebook or a community blog.’
“We’re trying to point people to … the facts and where they can go to, to actually look at what is the risk of having a side effect of the vaccine.”
HBF employs 1,026 staff in WA and is the fifth largest fund manager in the state, according to Data & Insights, with $1.4 billion worth of assets under management.
More than 800,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered in WA with 8.5 per cent of the adult population fully vaccinated against the virus.
