Iran Insurance Company, the country’s largest insurance company and the only company owned by the government, signed an agreement with Razi Vaccine and the Serum Research Institute to provide insurance cover for volunteers taking part in the human trial of the Iran-made Covid-19 vaccine.
As per a press release published on the IIC website, the insurer will compensate possible losses and medical expenses of 650 volunteers. Iran on Tuesday started human trials of the locally-made vaccine in which 56 people were vaccinated in the first stage.
Minou Mohrez, a senior member of the National Coronavirus Headquarters’ Science Committee, announced earlier that an experimental vaccine will be tested on volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50 who had not been infected by the novel coronavirus.
“The first phase will start with 56 people. In this phase, each participant gets two jabs two weeks apart,” she said.
Mohrez, who also is a member of the research team involved in the vaccine, says if the trials go well mass production would begin in early summer.
As per the deal, Razi Institute and the IIC will continue collaboration to promote the vaccine if it produces the desired results.
Insurers came up with a wide range of measures to support policyholders and medical staff as Covid-19 spread death and destruction unseen in recent memory. Several companies, like the IIC and Saman Insurance Company, extended medical insurance cover to include a part of hospital bills of policyholders
Insurance companies have paid 26 trillion rials ($104 million) to hospitals and medical centers to partially compensate medical bills related to Covid-19, head of the Central Insurance company of Iran said.
“We required insurance companies to broaden the scope of medical insurance to cover expenses related to the coronavirus,” Gholamreza Soleimani was quoted as saying by ILNA.
“All the medicine listed by the Health Ministry are included in the coverage,” Soleimani said. “Covid test costs will also be paid by the insurers if prescribed by physicians.”
Saman Insurance Company said Monday it had paid nearly 25 billion rials in pandemic-related cases to policyholders since May. As of Tuesday evening the health authorities in Tehran reported 1,212,481 coronavirus infections and 54,946 deaths.
