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Social media posts say life insurers will not pay compensation if a person dies within a year after receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. This is false, according to the organization representing American life insurers and several state regulators in the United States.
“If you die within 1 year of taking COVID V @ X, your life insurance will not pay because it is experimental,” says a Facebook post on March 9, 2021.
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken on March 18, 2021Similar claims that vaccination will invalidate life insurance policies spread across other Facebook publications and online articles.
The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) told AFP by email that the claims are “false information”.
In a statement posted on his website on March 12, 2021, a senior vice president, Paul Graham, said: “Life insurance contracts are very clear about how policies work and what the cause, if any, can lead to. to the denial of a benefit. A vaccine for Covid-19 is not one of them. “
He continued: “Policyholders should be sure that nothing has changed in the claims payment process as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations.”
Insurance associations in Canada and the United Kingdom have also issued similar responses to disinformation.
When asked whether the claims were without merit, leading insurers Northwestern Mutual, MetLife and New York Life responded with the ACLI statement.
Several US states have also dealt with the claims.
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said in a statement, “This is simply not true.”
He explained: “Whether Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson, these vaccines received Emergency Use Authorizations after the Food and Drug Administration determined their safety and effectiveness. I assure you that getting a vaccine against Covid-19 will not affect your life insurance benefits. “
Likewise, the Department of Insurance in North Dakota said in a Facebook post that, “Getting the Covid-19 vaccine will not affect your life insurance policy.”
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken on March 19, 2021And in New York, the Department of Financial Services explained on its website that state law “does not allow exclusions from life insurance based on the insured having received a vaccination”.
AFP Fact Check previously unmasked a similar claim circulating in French and English in Canada that specifically referred to the insurance company Manulife, who said the claim was “false”
AFP has verified numerous false or misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.