Dolly Parton’s $1 Million Donation for COVID-19 Research Helped Fund a Promising Vaccine
Dolly Parton’s April donation of one million dollars to research for a coronavirus vaccine has helped researchers develop a promising vaccine with a 94.5 percent effectiveness against infection.
In April, Parton said she was donating to Vanderbilt University after her friend and doctor, Naji Abumrad, told her about the university’s work on a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m just happy that anything I do can help somebody else,” she said Tuesday morning on NBC News. “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 find a cure real soon,” the 74-year-old Parton added.
According to Relevant Magazine, the funding and disclosures document from Moderna’s report lists “The Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund” as one of the main sources of funding.
According to Moderna’s report, of 30,000 trial participants, half received the trial vaccine and half received a placebo shot.
Ninety of those who received a placebo shot later tested positive for COVID-19 infections. Of the 15,000 who received the trial vaccine, only five contracted COVID-19. Those five cases were reported as mild or asymptomatic.
“This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.
Earlier this year, Parton thanked first responders and healthcare professionals in a tweet.
“I know it’s easy for us to sit home and watch you on television and feel sorry for you because what you’re going through, but we are at war and you’re on the frontlines,” she said. “We just want you to know we’re praying for you and we appreciate you more than you can imagine.”
She also said God is teaching a lesson to the world through the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think God’s in this, I really do,” she explained. “I think he’s trying to hold us up to the light so we can see ourselves and see each other through the eyes of love. And I hope we learn that lesson.”
Related:
New Dolly Parton Christmas Movie Highlights the Importance of Forgiveness
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/John Lamparski/Stringer
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
