Dolly Parton reveals she is proud to have helped in creating COVID-19 vaccine

Legendary Country singer, Dolly Parton has said that she is ‘so proud’ to have contributed towards the 95% Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The Moderna vaccine has been reported to work as effectively as the one that Pfizer and BioNTech made with about 95% protection rate. And Dolly Parton was one of the early funders of the research.

She announced in April 2020, according to BBC, that she is donating $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville; which was one of the trial sites for the Moderna vaccine. Parton had claimed at the time that her longtime friend Dr Naji Abumrad informed her that they were making ‘some exciting advancements’ towards research of the coronavirus for a cure.

After she made donation, Jeff Balser, Vanderbilt’s president and CEO acknowledged the singer’s generosity saying it is inspirational.

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During a BBC One show; Dolly Parton told co-presenters Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas that she had been excited after hearing the news of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The excited singer said: “I’m sure many millions of dollars from many people went into that. But I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world. I’m a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that’s going to help us through this crazy pandemic.”

A Vanderbilt spokesperson said the singer’s donation was funding many research initiatives. While a portion of her donation helped fund ‘an early stage trial of the Moderna vaccine‘, it is not all.

It is also supporting a convalescent plasma study and research involving antibody therapies; this is used in treating people battling a COVID-19 infection.