Dolly Parton Credited For Helping Fund New COVID-19 Vaccine

On April 1, Dolly Parton tweeted that she would be donating $1 million to Vanderbilt, which would go towards research for a coronavirus cure.

“My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who’s been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure,” she said. “I am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations.”

There have been a few different companies who are making great strides into developing a vaccine for coronavirus, with Moderna being one of them. In a preliminary report from the New England Journal of Medicine, Moderna’s “candidate vaccine, mRNA-1273,” went through lots of testing and is reporting that it is reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection by 94.5%.

Dolly Parton is credited in the report as a benefactor, alongside many others.

Parton was on The Today Show on Tuesday, where they spoke to her about her donation and the news of Moderna’s vaccine.

She said, “When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Let’s just hope we can find a cure real soon.”

Watch the clip below.