COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group

The Friday Report – Issue 66

The Friday Report is our regular fortnightly update with a summary of the key papers and analyses that we’ve looked at recently. In Friday Report 66 we look at:

  • Vaccine progress – boosters for the old, first vaccines for the very young
  • Prevalence of variants BA.2.12.1, BA.4 & BA.5 in South Africa, USA and UK
  • Growth advantage of BA.4 and BA.5
  • Immune escape of Omicron subtypes
  • Effectiveness of treatments against new variants
  • Limited benefit of remdesivir for hospitalised patients
  • Vaccine take-up associated with reduced COVID-19 mortality
  • ONS results on infectivity, antibodies and (a new study) Long COVID
  • WHO’s estimate of worldwide excess deaths

And finally, could you put up with your employer for 84 years? One person has ….

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John Roberts

Independent Consultant

John is an independent consultant who has spent 37 years in the life industry, including 17 years at Canada Life and more recently 8 years at Zurich Insurance Group, where he was part of the team that established its corporate risk business, now well established in the market. Following that he was Head of the Life Pricing team at Zurich for 5 years, overseeing a wide range of wealth and protection propositions.

At Zurich he helped establish its small pension scheme longevity swap proposition, which involved setting up simultaneous reinsurance transactions to mirror the client contracts. He has most recently continued with this line of interest as a consultant, supporting Lloyds Banking Group in establishing its first longevity swap transactions.

John is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

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Adele Groyer

Research and Analytics Actuary - Gen Re

Adele Groyer is a Research and Analytics Actuary at Gen Re. She was previously responsible for the UK and Ireland pricing team, conducting general research and producing client-specific quotations for Life, Disability, Long Term Care and Critical Illness business. She is a member of the CMI Assurances Committee. Before joining Gen Re in 2008, she worked for Old Mutual in South Africa. Adele holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town and became a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in 2005.

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Matthew Fletcher

Senior Consultant - AON

Matt has over 20 years’ consultancy experience, including over 10 years as a specialist in mortality and longevity. He works in Aon’s Demographic Horizons team, advising insurance companies and pension funds on setting best estimates and evaluating risk for longevity and other demographic assumptions, both in the UK and overseas.

Matt chairs the CMI Self-Administered Pension Schemes (SAPS) Committee, which produces mortality tables that are used extensively in the pensions and insurance industries.

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