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Hong Kong insurers HSBC Life, AXA, OneDegree roll out coverage for side effects of Covid-19 vaccines
- French giant AXA and online insurer OneDegree have both just announced plans to offer free protection for anyone who registers with them
- Hong Kong’s government has procured 22.5 million doses of vaccine to cover the 7.5 million population, with the first batch expected to arrive in January
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Some of the city’s biggest insurance companies are offering coverage for the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines, as Hongkongers prepare to start receiving their jabs as early as January.
French giant AXA and online insurer OneDegree have both just announced plans to offer free protection for anyone who registers with them. HSBC Life, the insurance arm of the biggest lender in the city, launched a medical policy in July which will cover the side effects of vaccines against a particular disease specified by the customer.
Hong Kong’s government has procured 22.5 million doses of vaccine to cover the 7.5 million population. The first batch of 7.5 million jabs, from mainland Chinese supplier Sinovac Biotech, is expected to arrive in January.
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They will be followed by shots co-developed by Germany’s BioNTech and US-based Pfizer. The AstraZeneca vaccine, jointly developed with the University of Oxford in the UK, would provide another 7.5 million shots and should be available by the middle of 2021.
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Every resident will be entitled to a free jab, on a voluntary basis. The shots will be given first to high-risk groups such as residents aged 60 or above, medical workers and people living and working in elderly care homes. The government has said it will buy as many as 30 million shots if the vaccines require two doses to be effective.
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