Dolly Parton helped fund vaccine

Dolly Parton is being lauded for her help with funding the new Moderna vaccine for the coronavirus.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the Moderna vaccine was funded, in part, “by the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund” through a donation she made to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Back in April, Parton had announced on Instagram her donation to the project.

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

That research is part of the Moderna vaccine program that is being touted for a high immunization rate after phase one testing.

Tuesday on the Today Show, Parton said: "I'm just happy that anything I do can help somebody else, and when I donated the money to the Covid fund, I just wanted it to do good. Evidently, it is. Let's just hope we find a cure real soon.”