An iconic insurance company and a startup, allied to insure the Covid-19 vaccine in the tricky transportation phase. Lloyd’s of London and the American insurtech Parsyl are the two players behind the effort of insuring and protecting the vaccine in the complex phase of the distribution of billions of doses worldwide, in the shortest time possible and mitigating a wide range of risks.
Transporting Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines represents a genuine logistical challenge. Especially for the former: while Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine can withstand the temperatures of a normal refrigerator, between 2 and 8 Celsius degrees, Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine must be stored at a temperature of -70 Celsius degrees, and therefore needs special planes, trucks and freezers to keep the cold chain steady.
Furthermore, the risk of incurring theft or damage, cyber-attacks and cyber-intrusions, and the need to ensure logistics without unforeseen delays, which would result in heavy economic losses for governments and organizations throughout the world, exists.
Lloyd’s of London, a British corporation operating worldwide, and the American insurtech Parsyl have accepted the gauntlet, collaborating to create a tailored insurance solution to protect the new vaccines: the Global Health Risk Facility.
The venture involves 14 international partners active in the insurance or reinsurance industry, including AXA XL, McGill and Partners, Ascot Underwriting, Ernst & Young, RenaissanceRe and the U.S International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), who have committed to providing appropriate coverage for the transportation and distribution of vaccines and medical devices therein. It will be led by Syndicate 1796, the new public-private panel arranged by Parsyl and operated by Lloyd’s – the first panel created specifically by the British giant in 300 years.
The first vaccine policies will be subscribed from January 2021, and coverage will be active on all stages of transportation and distribution in case of theft, loss, or damage.
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