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Lloyd’s of London Plans to Insure Covid Vaccine Shipments

Lloyd’s of London Plans to Insure Covid Vaccine Shipments

Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest insurance market, plans to begin offering coverage of coronavirus vaccine deliveries.

Parsyl Inc., a U.S. insurance technology company, has teamed up with Lloyd’s to provide policies covering the storage and shipping of potential Covid-19 vaccines and other medicines, according to a Lloyd’s statement on Thursday. Vaccine delivery can be expensive to insure because underwriters are concerned about the risk of medicines being spoiled by excessive heat or cold.

The new business, known as Syndicate 1796, was developed by Parsyl together with insurers Ascot Group and a unit of AXA SA, broker McGill & Partners and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international public health group that focuses on delivering new vaccines to the world’s poorest countries.

As part of the new Global Health Risk Facility at Lloyd’s, the new business will be backed with development capital, allowing it to share risks and offer lower-priced policies, according to the statement. It’s the first public-private syndicate created to help tackle a global health emergency in Lloyd’s history.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.