Covid 19 coronavirus: Dolly Parton helped fund research for Moderna's vaccination

Dolly Parton helped fund research for a Covid-19 vaccine. Photo / Getty Images

Dolly Parton donated US$1 million ($1.45m) towards crucial research for the Covid-19 vaccine.

The country music legend's financial contribution is credited in footnotes of a new article in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reveals she helped with funding for research by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which was involved in trials for Moderna's vaccination.

In the paper's "funding and disclosures" section, it's revealed the donation came via "the Dolly Parton Covid-19 Research Fund (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)".

Earlier this year, the 74-year-old singer revealed her intention to donate $1m toward coronavirus cure research as the respiratory illness continued to spread across the globe.

Fact-checking this was worth it just to see @DollyParton in the acknowledgments of a @NEJM article. And I thought I couldn’t love her more. https://t.co/S3njHEFcGT pic.twitter.com/WcrFIrHp67

— Dr. Meade Krosby (@MeadeKrosby) November 17, 2020

Back in April, she tweeted: "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 [sic]."

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And Dolly also insisted the coronavirus pandemic is a "lesson" from God.

In an Instagram video, she sang: "Well hello it's Dolly, climbing the stairway to heaven, because the virus has scared the h-e-l-l out of us."

She then laughed: "I'm not making light of the situation. Well, maybe I am, because it's the light, I believe that's gonna dissolve the situation. I think God is in this, I really do.

"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."

Dolly assured fans people will be in a "better" place once the current situation is over.

She added: "I think that when this passes, we're gonna all be better people.

"I know that I have a positive attitude about it, as negative as it seems to be right now. So just keep the faith, don't be too scared, it's gonna be alright, God loves us."