In the race against time to vaccinate the world’s population, Aon has been working on an innovative industry collaboration that is making a positive impact on the biggest global health crisis of our time. On this episode of “On Aon,” host Maria Harshbarger, Chief Client Officer at Aon, is joined by Aon’s Co-Leader of Global Specialties and CEO of Global Marine Lee Meyrick for a conversation about Aon’s work to ensure the safe delivery of global COVID-19 vaccine shipments.
In the race against time to vaccinate the world’s population, Aon has been working on an innovative industry collaboration that is making a positive impact on the biggest global health crisis of our time. On this episode of “On Aon,” host Maria Harshbarger, Chief Client Officer at Aon, is joined by Aon’s Co-Leader of Global Specialties and CEO of Global Marine Lee Meyrick for a conversation about Aon’s work to ensure the safe delivery of global COVID-19 vaccine shipments.
Additional Resources:
Press release: Aon Launches Innovative Industry Collaboration to Protect Global COVID-19 Vaccine Shipments
Press release: Aon's New Vaccine Supply Chain Solution to Benefit Response Fund for the World Health Organization
More on the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
Tweetables:
“We just wanted to ensure that the successful rollout of the vaccines wasn’t hampered due to insurance.” — Lee Meyrick
“Everybody stepped up and really wanted to get involved. They wanted to be able to do the right thing in the rollout of the vaccine.” — Lee Meyrick
“We really want to be part of the ongoing effort to bring vaccines to as many people as possible.” — Lee Meyrick
Voiceover:
Welcome to On Aon, a podcast featuring conversations between colleagues on, well, Aon. This week, we hear from Lee Meyrick talking about Aon's work to ensure the safe delivery of global COVID-19 vaccine shipments. And now, this week's host, Maria Harshbarger.
Maria Harshbarger:
Hi, my name is Maria Harshbarger and I'm excited to be here with you today on our fifth On Aon podcast. I've been a colleague at Aon for 18 years, and I've seen a lot of change throughout that entire period of what we're doing with different types of solutions and innovation.
Maria Harshbarger:
In the last 14 months, there's not a day that has gone by that we don't hear the word COVID-19. So today we're talking about a new innovative solution that is protecting COVID-19 vaccine shipments. Aon announced this extraordinary collaboration in April 2021. So this is a timely topic. And since this offering is an enhancement to all-risk marine cargo insurance, my guest today is Lee Meyrick, co-leader of Global Specialties and CEO of Global Marine. Lee has been at Aon for the last four years and has extensive experience with this offering. Thanks for being here today, Lee, and to start, we've heard that England has had a successful vaccination rollout. Can you share with us how that feels?
Lee Meyrick:
Yeah. Hi, Maria. That's right. Yeah. It's primarily based on the rollout of the vaccines over the last three to four months or so. And that really has been a tremendous success in terms of, I think more than 50% of the adult population is now vaccinated. And there's a couple of things. One, I think people are feeling more optimistic towards the future. Being in a lockdown situation obviously has its toll on people and it's also opening up the economy. So I'm looking forward to my first dinner out in about five months on Thursday. So there's an increasing momentum of feel-good factor based upon the successful vaccine rollout.
Maria Harshbarger:
Yeah, it is definitely... You see the light at the end of the tunnel, for us here in the U.S. as well, and looking forward to where other parts of the world can open up as soon as possible.
Lee Meyrick:
Yeah.
Maria Harshbarger:
So before we get into the topic at hand, which is about how the firm is protecting those very valuable vaccine shipments, we don't know each other very well at all. And so I'd like to get to know you just a little bit better. So we're going to start with a lighter question, which is: What is a hidden skill of yours, that's not on your resume?
Lee Meyrick:
That's quite a tough question. I've got a lot of things that are hidden, that aren't necessarily skills. I do a lot of things, not particularly well, but I guess my passion is cooking. I really do enjoy cooking, and we've had the opportunity to live in many places throughout the world. So I would say if I weren't doing what I'm doing, I'd love to have my own restaurant and we're just in the middle of a house renovation. So the kitchen is going to be out of action for about six months or so. So I think by the time I get back at it in six months’ time, I'll be raring to go.
Maria Harshbarger:
Very nice. Well, I wish I had your talent. Mine is baking, but that makes for a good team with cooking and baking. So there you have it.
Lee Meyrick:
Absolutely, yeah.
Maria Harshbarger:
Well, now we're going to go into what we're really here about, which is about the vaccines that are in transit and how we protect them. So can you tell us a little bit more of what this is all about?
Lee Meyrick:
Sure. So, the new product that we've brought out is called Cargo Track and Trace, and it combines sensor data analytics and cargo insurance to ensure that the supply of vaccines worldwide is protected. It's an enhanced all-risk cargo insurance. And interestingly, cargo insurance is the oldest form of insurance in the world. Millennia, the years it's been in existence. And so coupling that with up-to-the-minute technology has really been the basis of the product.
Lee Meyrick:
And the idea was founded on... We just wanted to ensure that the successful rollout of the vaccines wasn't hindered or hampered due to insurance, and insurance of pharmaceuticals in the past has been quite a challenge for insurers. The three tenets of cargo insurance is what is it, how's it prepared, and where's it going to? And all of those things, when you think about vaccine rollout, is pretty tricky. Ultra-low temperatures, being stored in and transported in new innovative packaging, going to areas in the world where there's less of a sustainable infrastructure.
Lee Meyrick:
So what we didn't want was to have claims that were denied or claims that were put into a long discussion around whether it was covered or not, hence the innovative idea of having a solution that monitors the shipments all the way through, from manufacturer through to the final arm of the patient. And it ensures that any loss due to temperature excursion is paid for within 30 days.
Maria Harshbarger:
Wow, very tricky, a lot of moving parts here in making this work. And it sounds like a really huge undertaking and that time was of the essence. How did you get this all moving so quickly?
Lee Meyrick:
I think that the strap lines, that would be collaboration. I was having a conversation with a client, a global logistics client, and they just started talking to me about this unprecedented strain that's going to be put on the logistics world to get... 10 billion doses are required globally to ensure an adequate level of vaccination. And so there was this urgent need on an unprecedented scale. And so really, it came about from discussions with logistics partners, some manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, governments, NGOs, and some InsurTech companies to start thinking about how can insurance help in this endeavor? How can we be of best value in the rollout of the vaccine? And how can we design something that would ensure that there is very quick payments of claims should an incident occur? And secondly, how can we ensure that the risk management of the vaccines is as good as possible? So the idea was to bring all the relevant stakeholders together, to talk about how we could all work together to do that.
Lee Meyrick:
And so we spoke to the carriers initially at a very high level to see what their reaction would be, how they would view being involved in such a project on the basis that the cargo market has been under quite a lot of challenge over the last few years. And everybody stepped up and said they really wanted to get involved. They wanted to be able to do the right thing for the rollout of the vaccine.
Lee Meyrick:
So the collaboration was immense and a particular mention to the broking team in the GBC. They took what was an idea, a principle of what we were trying to achieve, and really brought it home by ensuring market-leading coverage in the Lloyd's market. And also by having the $10 million 30-day guarantee payments put into the policy. And also everyone else within the Aon network who jumped in to make sure the product got to market in very quick order.
Maria Harshbarger:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). So not being in the cargo insurance world, it's fascinating to listen to how you looked at what the problem was, the urgency in developing a solution, working with numerous parties within our firm, but also outside of our firm and within the government to get this all to come to fruition, is really fascinating. I use that word, but it truly is amazing what we did to solve for this problem. The one thing I would be interested in learning more about is: How did technology enable you to create what we've done here? Can you tell us about that?
Lee Meyrick:
Yeah, sure. That's a really good question. As I said, the cargo insurance is literally the oldest form of insurance. And so bringing the technology to allow for a better appreciation of what was going on in the supply chain was critical. And so we... Sensor technology within the cold store supply chain isn't uncommon, but it's certainly not everywhere. And it's not at the extent of what we were being confronted with, with the rollout.
Lee Meyrick:
So what we wanted to do was to work with a data company, an InsurTech company, that was able to take the data from the sensors and the product is sensor agnostic. What we didn't want to do was, if people already had their sensors within their normal supply chain, we didn't want to disrupt that. We just needed just make sure that they were in compliance and viable by the underwriters and by the InsurTech company.
Lee Meyrick:
And the idea is that there are 16 or 17 different parts of the supply chain, whether it's the manufacturer, whether it's the initial shipment to the aircraft, on the aircraft, discharged from the aircraft. And so, what was key is that every single step, we had to ensure that the vaccine was in good shape. And so having the sensors on it, and the sensors are very small. I mean, they're about the size of a domino and some of them are reusable, some of them are one-off and they measure temperature, they may measure whether the box has been opened, all sorts of things. So what we can do is to see, "Okay, well, we guarantee, or we know fully that this shipment has arrived and hasn't fallen out of the temperature parameters." So people can use them with a level of confidence that nothing's happened to them during transit.
Lee Meyrick:
And also because it's real-time data, we're also able to monitor them should anything happen and the shelf life is compromised. And the idea is that, if that does occur, then we would be able to divert that shipment to a closer market, where the vaccine could get into somebody's arm rather than be wasted due to an incident. And the cargo track and trace policy would cover those extra costs to get to a secondary market.
Lee Meyrick:
And the risk management piece has been really significantly improved. The latest data that I saw is that less than 0.1% of vaccines have been impacted due to poor logistics. And so if you think there are 10 billion doses required to get to an adequate level of vaccination globally, and that's probably going to be seven to nine billion doses every year thereafter due to the various variants. I think having the inputs into the risk management to make sure that the vaccines get to where they're intended to on time, in good order, and into people's arms, I think that's a great byproduct of the product.
Maria Harshbarger:
For sure. Just amazing when you think of all of the logistics that go into it, how important that sensor is in the tracing and diverting to get the vaccines to the people who need it, and when it can't get to the original destination, just absolutely amazing. So shifting a little gears here, I understand that Aon will donate 100% of all the revenues earned from this. Is that correct?
Lee Meyrick:
Yes Maria, that is correct. So 100% of all revenues in 2021 for the cargo track and trace will be donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity [Response] Fund, part of the WHO Foundation, on the basis that we really wanted to be a part of the ongoing efforts to bring vaccines to as many people as possible. We thought it was the right thing to do, and was a show of intent on how we viewed the importance of the product and its rollout.
Voiceover:
This has been a conversation on Aon and our innovative COVID-19 vaccine shipment coverage. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this week's episode, tune in in two weeks for a discussion of Aon's global wellbeing survey. To learn more about Aon, its colleagues, solutions and news, check out our show notes and visit our website at aon.com.
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