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Don’t Believe the Hype About COVID ‘Super Strains,’ Says Top Virologist

Vincent Racaniello literally wrote the book about viruses. He tells TheStreet much of the dialog around vaccines, variants and strains is ‘really bad.’

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3 years ago

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Vincent Racaniello literally wrote the book about viruses. He tells TheStreet much of the dialog around vaccines, variants and strains is ‘really bad.’

It’s been hard to make sense of the headlines on COVID lately.

Just in the past weeks, we’ve seen ones like, “New strain detected in Israel” or “California’s new strain reduces immune response.”

Others have warned of a surge of “dangerous” variants and even “super mutations” that might evade vaccines.

But much of this kind of conversation is misguided, argues one of the nation's top virology experts.

“The narrative is screwed up in a way,” says Vincent Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. For one, he says, there is only one known strain of the novel coronavirus -- the original one, SARS-CoV-2, first discovered in Wuhan. And, two, there's no evidence so far of a variant that can meaningfully evade vaccines, though there are several concerning variants out there. 

“People don’t really know what they are talking about,” says the researcher. “I understand, because you talk to doctors and scientists and you figure they would know what they are talking about, but they don’t always.”

Racaniello believes people have been too narrowly focused on how antibodies respond against the coronavirus’ spike protein – and how some variants have appeared to limit the effectiveness of these antibodies in blocking infection. But that’s not the whole story, he says.

Who is Racaniello to say? He wrote the book on viruses. Literally.

A coauthor of the text, “Principles of Virology,” Racaniello has been researching viruses like polio since the 1970s, and started his own lab in the early 1980s. Becoming intrigued with virology after reading the old book, “Fever! The Hunt for a New Killer Virus,” Racaniello began studying at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and then at MIT alongside greats like David Baltimore, who had just won the Nobel Prize for his role in discovering an enzyme called reverse transcriptase.

A screen grab from Racaniello's lecture on viruses.

For the last several decades, he’s been on a mission to educate the world about viruses. He teaches the subject, blogs about it, and hosts free online lectures and shows like, “This Week in Virology.”

What pushed him to tell the world about viruses was after the bioterror mail attacks in 2001, he heard top U.S. health officials calling the bacterium that causes the anthrax disease a "virus.”

“I said, you know, people don’t really understand viruses and bacteria and so forth,” Racaniello told TheStreet in a phone interview. “So, my career really morphed from someone doing just research to (also) doing science communication. And people responded.”

In his online lectures and podcasts, he talks about how even the cabbage and other vegetables we eat are often carrying viruses, the oceans are swimming with them and while some are deadly, many are harmless to humans.

He started tracking the novel coronavirus as it first emerged in China, and since he’s been picking apart new findings and research, as well as news reports about it, and discussing them with other scientists and doctors to educate the public about the pandemic.

Here, he reflects on the handling of COVID, misconceptions about it, science funding in the U.S. and technology that could soon help in the fight against deadly diseases – and the next pandemic.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

TheStreet: Early in January 2020, there were reports that this novel coronavirus appeared not to spread among people and appeared to not be deadly. What were you thinking at the time?

Racaniello: We covered that in early January, and we said, “How do they know that it’s not transmissible among people? How do they know it’s not lethal?” ... We were very skeptical that it didn’t kill people and it wasn’t transmissible. We have from the beginning always looked at the data and questioned it.

TheStreet: Also, at the same time, in the U.S. you had people saying, “Worry about the flu, don’t worry about this.” Yet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore were sounding alarm bells about it. Is there a lesson here for the next viral pandemic that will happen?

Racaniello: Well, we’re going to have another one, for sure, whether it’s another coronavirus or flu or whatever, there’s no way we’re going to prevent it. Unfortunately, this response got caught up in politics, right? And it’s crazy that public health measures got political. … The fact that, today, right now, that (many) Republicans don’t want the vaccine and (many) Democrats do, is just ridiculous. The former administration politicized it. Trump wanted to talk it down because he thought the stock market would tank or some nonsense, and then he got so far into it, he couldn’t reverse himself. … Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screwed up, big time, because the director, he blew it from the start. He was a Trump loyalist and didn’t want to go against him.

So, this is going to go in the texts book of what not to do. … It’s quite clear that many Americans had died because of it.

TheStreet: Now, fast forward to today, and we have three vaccines that look highly effective. But, we have fears that a new strain could emerge that could evade them…

Racaniello: I am not worried at all that this virus is going to out-evolve vaccines. People have been looking at it the wrong way. People have been looking at antibodies. People say, “ah, the variants are less susceptible to antibodies. But, you know what? They are ignoring T cells. It turns out, none of the variants have changes that would impact the ability of the T cells to kill an infected cell. The Johnson & Johnson  (JNJ) - Get Report vaccine turns out to be 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths in South Africa…. I just saw an article today that showed that the U.K. variant ... made no difference in the outbreak in the U.K. It made no difference. The people who know, they are not worrying that the vaccines are going to be compromised by a variant. That’s what I can say with certainty.

TheStreet: And for there to be an actual new strain, as opposed to just these variants, it would have to be significantly different, right?

Racaniello: That’s right. It would have to have some substantial biological difference. Just think, there is still just one strain of H.I.V, despite infecting tens of millions of people for 40 years. So this has been a really bad dialogue.

TheStreet: You say, don’t fuss too much whether or not these COVID vaccines prevent infection. The point is that they prevent serious disease and keep people out of the hospital, right?

Racaniello: The way vaccines work is that when you get infected after you’re vaccinated you have a memory response and it takes two or three days to kick in. In those two or three days, you are going to be infected, but the infection will be kept down, you won’t get sick and you probably won’t transmit it.

A study was publish that says that the Pfizer  (PFE) - Get Report vaccine prevents infection in (most) people. I think that’s a red herring, because it’s too soon after the vaccine, when you have really high antibody levels. Try that study again in a year, and I’m sure people will be infected, although they will be protected against disease, and that’s what we care about.

TheStreet: What do you think of some of this technology coming down the line, and let’s start with progress on these micro-needle patches to replace needle shots...

Racaniello: We have to get away from needles. They are expensive. People have to be trained in how to use them. And, people are scared. I think a lot of anti-vaccine sentiment comes from the fact that parents are scared to put a needle in their kid. So, I think getting away from needles would have a lot of benefits, and micro-needle patches look really good. … I would say at some point we’re not going to need needles anymore (for vaccines). Skin is a really good place to put vaccines.

TheStreet: What about thermo-stabilization for vaccines so they don’t have to be kept in freezers?

Racaniello: The idea that you have to keep vaccines frozen is not good, because not everyone can do that. So, stabilizing vaccines with sugar, or sugar-like compounds, is going to make a big difference. These mRNA vaccines have to be kept at such a low temperature and maybe this could help us get around that.

TheStreet: And what about the future use of messenger RNA technology?

Racaniello: I think the mRNA technology is amazing. We’ve been working on it for years, but decided to try it and it works. The possibilities now – you could imagine making flu vaccines with mRNA, all kinds of other vaccines, and even therapeutics. If you wanted to deliver a protein therapeutically for a short period of time to a patient, maybe this is the way to go. I’m very bullish on mRNA vaccines.

TheStreet: Then there are the broad-spectrum antivirals. Do they hold promise – and, do we need to be careful, as we saw what happened to antibiotics for bacterial infections and the risks there?

Racaniello: We already have antivirals that will inhibit a lot of RNA viruses and others that inhibit a lot of DNA viruses. So, it would be no problem to make an antiviral that would inhibit all coronaviruses, for example. If we would have already had that at the beginning of all this, we could have stopped it altogether in China. But the problem with these broad-spectrum antivirals is … they have to get better before they can be licensed.

But then what happens? You’re going to always have resistance to any antiviral. So, you need more than one. We learned that from the HIV antivirals. We need to treat people with three, and then, you really minimize resistance. The same thing with hepatitis C virus. You use combinations of two and then you eliminate infection without resistance. I think we learned a lot from those two viruses. We can’t just use one. So, we have this molnupiravir (from Merck  (MRK) - Get Report). It looks good for SARS-CoV-2, as an oral antiviral. It looks great in patients in phase two studies. But if you just license that one and use it, within months you’re going to have resistance, and it’s going to be useless, so we need to have more than one, especially at the start.

TheStreet: Jumping off that point, as these drugs and vaccines come out, the big pharma names get a lot of attention, and deservedly so – Pfizer, Moderna  (MRNA) - Get Report, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca  (AZN) - Get Report. But isn’t it university research that lays a lot of the ground work for what we know about viruses?

Racaniello: Sure, in the U.S., anyway, it’s a combination of the National Institutes of Health and then to a lesser extent the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture, and then the universities kick in some, but I think they should do more….

But NIH’s budget is about $37 billion a year, and that’s just pathetic. If you think about the return on investment for things like (gene-editing tool) CRISPR, recombinant DNA, polymerase chain reaction – PCR – it’s huge. This pandemic has cost a trillion and a fraction of that could have been used beforehand to make antivirals that could have stopped the pandemic. They don’t invest enough in science research in this country. India and China are starting to outpace us. They get it. Science can save the population. 

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‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded…

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5 hours ago

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March 14, 2024

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'Excess Mortality Skyrocketed': Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack 'Criminal' COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded experimental vaccines were hastily developed for a virus which primarily killed the old and fat (and those with other obvious comorbidities), and an aggressive, global campaign to coerce billions into injecting them ensued.

Then there were the lockdowns - with some countries (New Zealand, for example) building internment camps for those who tested positive for Covid-19, and others such as China welding entire apartment buildings shut to trap people inside.

It was an egregious and unnecessary response to a virus that, while highly virulent, was survivable by the vast majority of the general population.

Oh, and the vaccines, which governments are still pushing, didn't work as advertised to the point where health officials changed the definition of "vaccine" multiple times.

Tucker Carlson recently sat down with Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care specialist and vocal critic of vaccines. The two had a wide-ranging discussion, which included vaccine safety and efficacy, excess mortality, demographic impacts of the virus, big pharma, and the professional price Kory has paid for speaking out.

Keep reading below, or if you have roughly 50 minutes, watch it in its entirety for free on X:

"Do we have any real sense of what the cost, the physical cost to the country and world has been of those vaccines?" Carlson asked, kicking off the interview.

"I do think we have some understanding of the cost. I mean, I think, you know, you're aware of the work of of Ed Dowd, who's put together a team and looked, analytically at a lot of the epidemiologic data," Kory replied. "I mean, time with that vaccination rollout is when all of the numbers started going sideways, the excess mortality started to skyrocket."

When asked "what kind of death toll are we looking at?", Kory responded "...in 2023 alone, in the first nine months, we had what's called an excess mortality of 158,000 Americans," adding "But this is in 2023. I mean, we've  had Omicron now for two years, which is a mild variant. Not that many go to the hospital."

'Safe and Effective'

Tucker also asked Kory why the people who claimed the vaccine were "safe and effective" aren't being held criminally liable for abetting the "killing of all these Americans," to which Kory replied: "It’s my kind of belief, looking back, that [safe and effective] was a predetermined conclusion. There was no data to support that, but it was agreed upon that it would be presented as safe and effective."

Carlson and Kory then discussed the different segments of the population that experienced vaccine side effects, with Kory noting an "explosion in dying in the youngest and healthiest sectors of society," adding "And why did the employed fare far worse than those that weren't? And this particularly white collar, white collar, more than gray collar, more than blue collar."

Kory also said that Big Pharma is 'terrified' of Vitamin D because it "threatens the disease model." As journalist The Vigilant Fox notes on X, "Vitamin D showed about a 60% effectiveness against the incidence of COVID-19 in randomized control trials," and "showed about 40-50% effectiveness in reducing the incidence of COVID-19 in observational studies."

Professional costs

Kory - while risking professional suicide by speaking out, has undoubtedly helped save countless lives by advocating for alternate treatments such as Ivermectin.

Kory shared his own experiences of job loss and censorship, highlighting the challenges of advocating for a more nuanced understanding of vaccine safety in an environment often resistant to dissenting voices.

"I wrote a book called The War on Ivermectin and the the genesis of that book," he said, adding "Not only is my expertise on Ivermectin and my vast clinical experience, but and I tell the story before, but I got an email, during this journey from a guy named William B Grant, who's a professor out in California, and he wrote to me this email just one day, my life was going totally sideways because our protocols focused on Ivermectin. I was using a lot in my practice, as were tens of thousands of doctors around the world, to really good benefits. And I was getting attacked, hit jobs in the media, and he wrote me this email on and he said, Dear Dr. Kory, what they're doing to Ivermectin, they've been doing to vitamin D for decades..."

"And it's got five tactics. And these are the five tactics that all industries employ when science emerges, that's inconvenient to their interests. And so I'm just going to give you an example. Ivermectin science was extremely inconvenient to the interests of the pharmaceutical industrial complex. I mean, it threatened the vaccine campaign. It threatened vaccine hesitancy, which was public enemy number one. We know that, that everything, all the propaganda censorship was literally going after something called vaccine hesitancy."

Money makes the world go 'round

Carlson then hit on perhaps the most devious aspect of the relationship between drug companies and the medical establishment, and how special interests completely taint science to the point where public distrust of institutions has spiked in recent years.

"I think all of it starts at the level the medical journals," said Kory. "Because once you have something established in the medical journals as a, let's say, a proven fact or a generally accepted consensus, consensus comes out of the journals."

"I have dozens of rejection letters from investigators around the world who did good trials on ivermectin, tried to publish it. No thank you, no thank you, no thank you. And then the ones that do get in all purportedly prove that ivermectin didn't work," Kory continued.

"So and then when you look at the ones that actually got in and this is where like probably my biggest estrangement and why I don't recognize science and don't trust it anymore, is the trials that flew to publication in the top journals in the world were so brazenly manipulated and corrupted in the design and conduct in, many of us wrote about it. But they flew to publication, and then every time they were published, you saw these huge PR campaigns in the media. New York Times, Boston Globe, L.A. times, ivermectin doesn't work. Latest high quality, rigorous study says. I'm sitting here in my office watching these lies just ripple throughout the media sphere based on fraudulent studies published in the top journals. And that's that's that has changed. Now that's why I say I'm estranged and I don't know what to trust anymore."

Vaccine Injuries

Carlson asked Kory about his clinical experience with vaccine injuries.

"So how this is how I divide, this is just kind of my perception of vaccine injury is that when I use the term vaccine injury, I'm usually referring to what I call a single organ problem, like pericarditis, myocarditis, stroke, something like that. An autoimmune disease," he replied.

"What I specialize in my practice, is I treat patients with what we call a long Covid long vaxx. It's the same disease, just different triggers, right? One is triggered by Covid, the other one is triggered by the spike protein from the vaccine. Much more common is long vax. The only real differences between the two conditions is that the vaccinated are, on average, sicker and more disabled than the long Covids, with some pretty prominent exceptions to that."

Watch the entire interview above, and you can support Tucker Carlson's endeavors by joining the Tucker Carlson Network here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 03/14/2024 - 16:20

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International

Delta Air Lines adds a new route travelers have been asking for

The new Delta seasonal flight to the popular destination will run daily on a Boeing 767-300.

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10 hours ago

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March 14, 2024

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Those who have tried to book a flight from North America to Europe in the summer of 2023 know just how high travel demand to the continent has spiked.

At 2.93 billion, visitors to the countries making up the European Union had finally reached pre-pandemic levels last year while North Americans in particular were booking trips to both large metropolises such as Paris and Milan as well as smaller cities growing increasingly popular among tourists.

Related: A popular European city is introducing the highest 'tourist tax' yet

As a result, U.S.-based airlines have been re-evaluating their networks to add more direct routes to smaller European destinations that most travelers would have previously needed to reach by train or transfer flight with a local airline.

The new flight will take place on a Boeing 767-300.

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Delta Air Lines: ‘Glad to offer customers increased choice…’

By the end of March, Delta Air Lines  (DAL)  will be restarting its route between New York’s JFK and Marco Polo International Airport in Venice as well as launching two new flights to Venice from Atlanta. One will start running this month while the other will be added during peak demand in the summer.

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“As one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice is hugely popular with U.S. travelers, and our flights bring valuable tourism and trade opportunities to the city and the region as well as unrivalled opportunities for Venetians looking to explore destinations across the Americas,” Delta’s SVP for Europe Matteo Curcio said in a statement. “We’re glad to offer customers increased choice this summer with flights from New York and additional service from Atlanta.”

The JFK-Venice flight will run on a Boeing 767-300  (BA)  and have 216 seats including higher classes such as Delta One, Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort Plus.

Delta offers these features on the new flight

Both the New York and Atlanta flights are seasonal routes that will be pulled out of service in October. Both will run daily while the first route will depart New York at 8:55 p.m. and arrive in Venice at 10:15 a.m. local time on the way there, while leaving Venice at 12:15 p.m. to arrive at JFK at 5:05 p.m. on the way back.

According to Delta, this will bring its service to 17 flights from different U.S. cities to Venice during the peak summer period. As with most Delta flights at this point, passengers in all fare classes will have access to free Wi-Fi during the flight.

Those flying in Delta’s highest class or with access through airline status or a credit card will also be able to use the new Delta lounge that is part of the airline’s $12 billion terminal renovation and is slated to open to travelers in the coming months. The space will take up more than 40,000 square feet and have an outdoor terrace.

“Delta One customers can stretch out in a lie-flat seat and enjoy premium amenities like plush bedding made from recycled plastic bottles, more beverage options, and a seasonal chef-curated four-course meal,” Delta said of the new route. “[…] All customers can enjoy a wide selection of in-flight entertainment options and stay connected with Wi-Fi and enjoy free mobile messaging.”

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Shakira’s net worth

After 12 albums, a tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth more than 4 decades into her care…

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10 hours ago

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March 14, 2024

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Shakira’s considerable net worth is no surprise, given her massive popularity in Latin America, the U.S., and elsewhere. 

In fact, the belly-dancing contralto queen is the second-wealthiest Latin-America-born pop singer of all time after Gloria Estefan. (Interestingly, Estefan actually helped a young Shakira translate her breakout album “Laundry Service” into English, hugely propelling her stateside success.)

Since releasing her first record at age 13, Shakira has spent decades recording albums in both Spanish and English and performing all over the world. Over the course of her 40+ year career, she helped thrust Latin pop music into the American mainstream, paving the way for the subsequent success of massively popular modern acts like Karol G and Bad Bunny.

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Shakira, the barefoot belly dancer of Barranquilla, was unveiled at the city's waterfront. The statue was commissioned by the city's former mayor and other leadership.

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

In December 2023, a 21-foot-tall beachside bronze statue of the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer was unveiled in her Colombian hometown of Barranquilla, making her a permanent fixture in the city’s skyline and cementing her legacy as one of Latin America’s most influential entertainers.

After 12 albums, a plethora of film and television appearances, a highly publicized tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth? What does her income look like? And how does she spend her money?

Related: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's net worth: How the new TKO Board Member built his wealth from $7

How much is Shakira worth?

In late 2023, Spanish sports and lifestyle publication Marca reported Shakira’s net worth at $400 million, citing Forbes as the figure’s source (although Forbes’ profile page for Shakira does not list a net worth — and didn’t when that article was published).

Most other sources list the singer’s wealth at an estimated $300 million, and almost all of these point to Celebrity Net Worth — a popular but dubious celebrity wealth estimation site — as the source for the figure.

A $300 million net worth would make Shakira the third-richest Latina pop star after Gloria Estefan ($500 million) and Jennifer Lopez ($400 million), and the second-richest Latin-America-born pop singer after Estefan (JLo is Puerto Rican but was born in New York).

Shakira’s income: How much does she make annually?

Entertainers like Shakira don’t have predictable paychecks like ordinary salaried professionals. Instead, annual take-home earnings vary quite a bit depending on each year’s album sales, royalties, film and television appearances, streaming revenue, and other sources of income. As one might expect, Shakira’s earnings have fluctuated quite a bit over the years.

From June 2018 to June 2019, for instance, Shakira was the 10th highest-earning female musician, grossing $35 million, according to Forbes. This wasn’t her first time gracing the top 10, though — back in 2012, she also landed the #10 spot, bringing in $20 million, according to Billboard.

In 2023, Billboard listed Shakira as the 16th-highest-grossing Latin artist of all time.

Shakira performed alongside producer Bizarrap during the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards Gala in Seville.

Photo By Maria Jose Lopez/Europa Press via Getty Images

How much does Shakira make from her concerts and tours?

A large part of Shakira’s wealth comes from her world tours, during which she sometimes sells out massive stadiums and arenas full of passionate fans eager to see her dance and sing live.

According to a 2020 report by Pollstar, she sold over 2.7 million tickets across 190 shows that grossed over $189 million between 2000 and 2020. This landed her the 19th spot on a list of female musicians ranked by touring revenue during that period. In 2023, Billboard reported a more modest touring revenue figure of $108.1 million across 120 shows.

In 2003, Shakira reportedly generated over $4 million from a single show on Valentine’s Day at Foro Sol in Mexico City. 15 years later, in 2018, Shakira grossed around $76.5 million from her El Dorado World Tour, according to Touring Data.

Related: RuPaul's net worth: Everything to know about the cultural icon and force behind 'Drag Race'

How much has Shakira made from her album sales?

According to a 2023 profile in Variety, Shakira has sold over 100 million records throughout her career. “Laundry Service,” the pop icon’s fifth studio album, was her most successful, selling over 13 million copies worldwide, according to TheRichest.

Exactly how much money Shakira has taken home from her album sales is unclear, but in 2008, it was widely reported that she signed a 10-year contract with LiveNation to the tune of between $70 and $100 million to release her subsequent albums and manage her tours.

Shakira and JLo co-headlined the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show in Florida.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

How much did Shakira make from her Super Bowl and World Cup performances?

Shakira co-wrote one of her biggest hits, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” after FIFA selected her to create the official anthem for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. She performed the song, along with several of her existing fan-favorite tracks, during the event’s opening ceremonies. TheThings reported in 2023 that the song generated $1.4 million in revenue, citing Popnable for the figure.

A decade later, 2020’s Superbowl halftime show featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez as co-headliners with guest performances by Bad Bunny and J Balvin. The 14-minute performance was widely praised as a high-energy celebration of Latin music and dance, but as is typical for Super Bowl shows, neither Shakira nor JLo was compensated beyond expenses and production costs.

The exposure value that comes with performing in the Super Bowl Halftime Show, though, is significant. It is typically the most-watched television event in the U.S. each year, and in 2020, a 30-second Super Bowl ad spot cost between $5 and $6 million.

How much did Shakira make as a coach on “The Voice?”

Shakira served as a team coach on the popular singing competition program “The Voice” during the show’s fourth and sixth seasons. On the show, celebrity musicians coach up-and-coming amateurs in a team-based competition that eventually results in a single winner. In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Shakira’s salary as a coach on “The Voice” was $12 million.

Related: John Cena's net worth: The wrestler-turned-actor's investments, businesses, and more

How does Shakira spend her money?

Shakira doesn’t just make a lot of money — she spends it, too. Like many wealthy entertainers, she’s purchased her share of luxuries, but Barranquilla’s barefoot belly dancer is also a prolific philanthropist, having donated tens of millions to charitable causes throughout her career.

Private island

Back in 2006, she teamed up with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz to purchase Bonds Cay, a 550-acre island in the Bahamas, which was listed for $16 million at the time.

Along with her two partners in the purchase, Shakira planned to develop the island to feature housing, hotels, and an artists’ retreat designed to host a revolving cast of artists-in-residence. This plan didn’t come to fruition, though, and as of this article’s last update, the island was once again for sale on Vladi Private Islands.

Real estate and vehicles

Like most wealthy celebs, Shakira’s portfolio of high-end playthings also features an array of luxury properties and vehicles, including a home in Barcelona, a villa in Cyprus, a Miami mansion, and a rotating cast of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Philanthropy and charity

Shakira doesn’t just spend her massive wealth on herself; the “Queen of Latin Music” is also a dedicated philanthropist and regularly donates portions of her earnings to the Fundación Pies Descalzos, or “Barefoot Foundation,” a charity she founded in 1997 to “improve the education and social development of children in Colombia, which has suffered decades of conflict.” The foundation focuses on providing meals for children and building and improving educational infrastructure in Shakira’s hometown of Barranquilla as well as four other Colombian communities.

In addition to her efforts with the Fundación Pies Descalzos, Shakira has made a number of other notable donations over the years. In 2007, she diverted a whopping $40 million of her wealth to help rebuild community infrastructure in Peru and Nicaragua in the wake of a devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Shakira donated a large supply of N95 masks for healthcare workers and ventilators for hospital patients to her hometown of Barranquilla.

Back in 2010, the UN honored Shakira with a medal to recognize her dedication to social justice, at which time the Director General of the International Labour Organization described her as a “true ambassador for children and young people.”

On November 20, 2023 (which was supposed to be her first day of trial), Shakira reached a deal with the prosecution that resulted in a three-year suspended sentence and around $8 million in fines.

Photo by Adria Puig/Anadolu via Getty Images

Shakira’s tax fraud scandal: How much did she pay?

In 2018, prosecutors in Spain initiated a tax evasion case against Shakira, alleging she lived primarily in Spain from 2012 to 2014 and therefore failed to pay around $14.4 million in taxes to the Spanish government. Spanish law requires anyone who is “domiciled” (i.e., living primarily) in Spain for more than half of the year to pay income taxes.

During the period in question, Shakira listed the Bahamas as her primary residence but did spend some time in Spain, as she was dating Gerard Piqué, a professional footballer and Spanish citizen. The couple’s first son, Milan, was also born in Barcelona during this period. 

Shakira maintained that she spent far fewer than 183 days per year in Spain during each of the years in question. In an interview with Elle Magazine, the pop star opined that “Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It's clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what."

Prosecutors in the case sought a fine of almost $26 million and a possible eight-year prison stint, but in November of 2023, Shakira took a deal to close the case, accepting a fine of around $8 million and a three-year suspended sentence to avoid going to trial. In reference to her decision to take the deal, Shakira stated, "While I was determined to defend my innocence in a trial that my lawyers were confident would have ruled in my favour [had the trial proceeded], I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight."

How much did the Shakira statue in Barranquilla cost?

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze likeness of Shakira was unveiled on a waterfront promenade in Barranquilla. The city’s then-mayor, Jaime Pumarejo, commissioned Colombian sculptor Yino Márquez to create the statue of the city’s treasured pop icon, along with a sculpture of the city’s coat of arms.

According to the New York Times, the two sculptures cost the city the equivalent of around $180,000. A plaque at the statue’s base reads, “A heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, an unmatched talent, a voice that moves the masses and bare feet that march for the good of children and humanity.” 

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