Marsh and Citi Develop Risk Program With 6 Insurers to Deliver Vaccines Globally

Global insurance broker Marsh and global bank Citi said they have developed a risk mitigation structure to cover the risk associated with a number of governments that are self-funding their coronavirus vaccine procurement through the COVAX Facility.

The innovative structure should accelerate further vaccine purchase agreements for the world and enable the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) to pre-purchase vaccines in bulk from manufacturers and facilitate the more rapid and equitable distribution of vaccines globally. The structure provides cover against the risk of non-payment by 21 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Continental Europe. Under the terms of the policy the identity of the countries covered, and other aspects of the policy, will not be disclosed.

The policy is underwritten by six insurers: AXA XL, Chubb, Liberty Specialty Markets, Sovereign Risk Insurance, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, and Tokio Marine HCC.

“Striving for greater global vaccine equity by increasing vaccination rates worldwide will not only help countries recover faster from the impact of the pandemic, but may also reduce the risk of new variants that come from high levels of community transmission. This innovative structure will hasten that process by allowing Gavi to procure and distribute vaccines more speedily and with greater financial confidence,” said Stephen Kay, Political Risk leader at Marsh.

Assietou Diouf, Gavi’s managing director of Finance and Operations, said that an initiative like COVAX requires a risk mitigation structure to match its scale, complexity and ambition. “This new structure will further strengthen the foundation of COVAX, which is the best mechanism the world has to bring an end to the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Diouf.

Top Photo: Image taken from video shows people working inside the UNICEF warehouse, the world’s largest humanitarian aid warehouse, in Copenhagen, Denmark , Tuesday Oct. 13, 2020. For Burkina Faso, India, Venezuela and other countries with shaky health care delivery systems, the best chance for receiving scarce supplies of a coronavirus vaccine is through the Covax initiative, led by the World Health Organization and the Gavi vaccine alliance. UNICEF began laying the groundwork months ago in Copenhagen, at the world’s largest humanitarian aid warehouse. (AP Photo)

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