Life Assurance and Omicron.

A significant proportion of Pulse’s business is Life Insurance. It is not surprising, therefore that we are giving careful thought to the development of the Omicron variant. At the moment our message is simple. It is “Business as usual !“ That is to say that, currently, we continue to provide Life Assurance cover that includes Covid.

Our thinking is guided by factors including the following;

All viruses will mutate. New variants assist the virus to spread and thrive. They may be more easily transmissible and may or may not cause more severe illness. There have been reports of new variants resulting in an increase in the number of infections, but further data is required to fully understand any impact on severity and the vaccine development programme.

Omicron’s genetic profile has raised concerns, but there’s a shortage of real-world data that means nobody has the complete picture of what it can do. It is unclear how big a threat it poses.

At this early stage of the new variant’s discovery, in an absence of definitive facts and when there is a danger of both underreacting and overreacting, until the facts are clearer it is difficult to assume a stance with confidence

There has been some evidence in South Africa of faster spread in Omicron. However, it is significant that South Africa has low immunisation rates with the reported vaccine doses administered per 100 people of 42.1 compared to the UK of 168.3. Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University made reference to the South African experience in a recent television interview. He made the point that it would appear that in Johannesburg, Omicron is highly infectious but that data concerning how ill it made people is, as yet, limited. We don’t know how many have been hospitalised or require treatment in ICU.  He felt that there was, perhaps, some reason to be optimistic as early indications are that the effects are not so bad.

It is unknown at this stage how Omicron will react to a significant wall of immunity built up through vaccines, boosters, and high levels of Covid this autumn in the UK.

Pulse may have to change its stance on Omicron but currently we continue to provide Life Assurance including Covid.

For more information or to request a quote, please contact our team:

[email protected] or call 01280 841430.

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