Viewpoint: Follow the COVID Money

???If you are confused about the on-going COVID-19 issue, join the rest of us.?Well over a year into this pandemic, there are more questions than answers.???

?Do masks help or harm??Why do vaccinated people get COVID??If you’ve had COVID are the natural immunities your body produces better than the vaccine??If 70% of the people in Colorado really are vaccinated, why are we told the hospitals are full??Who can you trust to get accurate numbers??What will long term alteration of my RNA do to me??

?Then there are the practical questions.?Does the government have the right to make me get the vaccine or lose my employment??Can the private sector fire me if I refuse to get the vaccine??Is it morally and ethically right to refuse non-vaccinated people access to grocery stores, concert venues, airline flights?

?Why is COVID being treated so differently from other global diseases in our past history?

?Might I make a suggestion??The following information comes from an article in Forbes magazine, dated April 6, 2021.?It may shine some light on why the confusion continues.

?“Shortly after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, markets collapsed and economies around the world plunged into recession. At the same time, hundreds of billionaires fell from the ranks of Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, capturing a snapshot of the pandemic’s impact on the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest people.”

?That’s Billion with a “B”.

“One year later, things couldn’t be more different: a record 493 new billionaires joined the list this year, propelled by a red-hot stock market and unprecedented economic stimulus. Among those newcomers are at least 40 new entrants who draw their fortunes from companies involved in fighting Covid-19.”

?“Some, such as Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel and BioNTech cofounder U?ur ?ahin, have become household names thanks to the vaccines they helped develop. Others got rich making everything from personal protective equipment and diagnostic tests to antibody treatments and software.”

?“The richest of these new billionaires is Li Jianquan, the president of Chinese medical products manufacturer Winner Medical, which ramped up production of masks and medical overalls to supply frontline workers across the globe. Winner Medical’s IPO on the Shenzhen stock exchange in September 2020 instantly made Jianquan, 64, a billionaire several times over thanks to his 68% stake in the company, worth $6.8 billion.”

?“Some vaccine companies have been so successful that their rise over the last year has minted several new billionaires from the same company, including four apiece from Moderna and Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics, which saw its one-shot vaccine approved by Chinese regulators in February.”

?This may strike you as odd.?Of the 40 new COVID billionaires, 14 of them are from China.?Those 14 are now worth $25.9 billion.?Did they respond faster than the rest of the world or did they know it was coming?

?Nine of the new billionaires are from the United States.?The top one is number 11.?Three of them are connected to Moderna.?They account for $11.7 billion.?Although they live in the United States Nouber Afeyan and Yu De-Chao are probably…… Irish?

?Five are from Canada, but four of the five have oriental surnames.?$8.8 billion of new money there.?India has four, including one gentleman who made $1.2 billion on developing hydroxychloroquine which later fell out of grace as a treatment for COVID.?I suspect it could be sold too cheaply and probably worked. But that’s just me.

?I don’t know if the Forbes study sheds any light on anything or not.?It just adds to the questions.?It certainly could lead one to follow the old adage, “Follow the money.”?Be safe.