Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna Covid vaccine and now we love her even more
Jolene singer "honoured and proud" after giving away $1m
Dolly Parton has said she’s “honoured and proud” after it came to light she partly funded the Moderna Covid vaccine.
The ‘Jolene’ singer gave $1m (£750,000) to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, a portion of which went towards funding an early stage trial of the vaccine.
Vanderbilt University was a trial site for the treatment, according to the BBC.
“I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money”
Saying she was “excited” by the success of the vaccine’s early 95% effective data results, Dolly added on The One Show yesterday: “I’m sure many millions of dollars from many people went into that.
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“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.”
Gay icon Dolly is known for hits like ‘I Will Always Love You’ (she wrote the original!) and ‘Coat of Many Colours.’
In October, the 74-year-old released her 47th solo album, ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’.
Read the full interview in the Attitude December issue, available to download and to order globally now.
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