Dolly Parton had a role in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, and fans are praising her

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is showing promise, and country music icon Dolly Parton is part of the reason.

Monday, Moderna announced its vaccine is nearly 95% effective protecting against the coronavirus, McClatchy News reported. The announcement comes seven months after Parton donated $1 million to its research.

“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,” Parton wrote on Instagram in April. “I am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations.”

A preliminary report of the vaccine published in July in The New England Journal of Medicine includes it was supported by the “Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund.”

Fans of Parton are applauding her for the donation.

“Dolly Parton contributed $1m to the development of the Moderna vaccine — just in case we didn’t all acknowledge how amazing she is already,” one Twitter user wrote.

“The important thing to know is Dolly Parton funded the Moderna vaccine and will save us all because she is good,” another user said.

Moderna has collaborated with the U.S. government’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority with its vaccine, it said in a news release. It plans to submit an Emergency Use Authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

No “significant safety concerns” were found in a review of the vaccine trial, Moderna said, though side effects of fatigue and pain or redness near the injection site were seen in less than 10% of study participants.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Dolly Parton had a role in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, and fans are praising her."