As an example of how disinformation can get laundered through Facebook, witness the attempt to spread a lie about the current vaccination efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The claim originated with a post from a user based in England reading:
Check your insurance.
People that I know of have reported that their life insurance has been invalidated due to having the jab, because they have voluntereed to take part in a vaccine trial and this is one of the clauses, i imagine many wont [sic] know this, so just check for yourselves to be sure.
That account was evidently invited by a separate contact to join a group on private chat platform Telegram; her post was reproduced in a private “vaccine reactions and feedback” group on Facebook:
There have been no credible reports of life insurance policies being affected by vaccination status. The Canadian firm LSM Insurance said in a February 8 2021 post on its own website that they have received little solid information:
Most of the executives we reached out to could not give a concrete answer due to all the uncertainty surrounding the vaccine. The ones who did respond said they are leaning towards “not asking a COVID-related vaccine question on applications.” The rationale likely stems from the fact that insurance companies do not currently ask if other vaccines are up-to-date or whether people are having other routine recommended health screening tests.
Other considerations include the vaccines not being available for everyone due to other health complications (currently Pfizer is not recommended for people with anaphylaxis type food and drug reactions).
The Zurich Insurance Group also states outright on its website for British customers that its life insurance policies will pay out in the event of death because of the coronavirus. The site also says that they will not be treating their own customers any differently, at least not for the time being:
Taking part in the trials will have no impact on an application for Life, Critical Illness or Income Protection.
As part of the vaccine programme pre-screening testing is performed. We would expect you to disclose any abnormalities that are discovered as part of this process on the application form.
[…]
We will not be asking you specifically about whether you have or haven’t had the vaccination.
At the moment we will not be treating customers any differently. We will keep this under review as the vaccination programme is rolled-out and as we monitor the situation with the rising levels of cases and hospitalisations over the Winter.
Going back further, the trade publication Insurance Journal reported in October 2020 that life insurance providers saw little cause for concern with trials for the vaccines before they began being administered to the general public; according to the magazine, life insurance claims during this period were “often limited to circumstances linked to the improper conduct of trials or any wrongdoing, rather than side-effects of the treatment.”