According to a message seen by thousands of people on social media, a Canadian insurance company has updated its life insurance policy to negatively impact those vaccinated against COVID-19. It is not true. The company has since contacted the person who originally posted the claim to notify them of the opposite.
The original Facebook post on February 26 has now been deleted, but not before it has been copied and shared on numerous other profiles (here, here and here).
It was posted by a woman in Canada who said her insurance company, Manulife, would not comply with her life insurance policy if she died due to complications caused by a COVID-19 vaccine. According to her, the company told her that it was due to COVID vaccines that were ‘experimental’.
“I just spoke to my insurance company Manulife, I was curious if I would get the vaccine for COVID-19 and die of complications, my life insurance policy would be valid,” the Facebook user said. She added, ‘Well, guess what? Confirm that they would NOT pay out my policy because the vaccine is experimental! Wake up Canada !!! Do your research !!! Share share share. ”
On March 12, the same user posted again, this time with screenshots showing an email and correspondence between herself and a Manulife employee. One letter on Manulife chapter, dated 10 March, stated: “To confirm our call on 5 March and according to our questions about COVID-19 on Manulife.ca, COVID-19 vaccination has no negative effect on the current insurance policies or does not cover. “
The letter apologizes for ‘any wrong communication’ during the original call, adding: ‘On that call you asked about what would happen to your life insurance cover if you were to receive a COVID vaccine and the agent incorrectly indicated that a claim would not be covered. The information you received was inaccurate and being vaccinated does not affect your coverage or the denial of a claim.
‘To repeat, the COVID-19 vaccine will not adversely affect your policy with us. As a company, we support vaccination to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Once again, I apologize for the confusion ”(here).
The company also responded to other users sharing the claim on Twitter (here), and issued a separate statement to clarify its position (here).
Meanwhile, the original Facebook also refers to allegations that COVID-19 vaccines are ‘experimental’. It is not true. This is probably due to similar concerns raised by social media users in February 2021 about official clinical trial records calling the years 2022 and 2023 as ‘estimated completion dates’ for COVID vaccines (here and here). However, this phrase was misinterpreted.
Vaccinations are approved by regulators after completion of phase III clinical trials, as there is a high success rate. It is then standard practice for safety monitoring to continue – to which the expression “estimated dates for completion of the study” refers – when the roll-out begins. Reuters has uncovered these allegations here, here and here in detail.
Approved COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be safe and effective, and Reuters has repeatedly addressed social media posts suggesting otherwise here, here, here, here and here.
VERDICT
Untrue. Manulife has not changed its life insurance policies to negatively affect people receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Approved COVID-19 vaccines are not experimental. They have been tested and evidence shows that they are safe and effective.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.