Dolly Parton's $1 Million Gift Helped Fund Critical Early Research Behind Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine
核心洞察
Dolly Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2020, creating the Dolly Parton COVID-19 (搜索) Research Fund to support COVID-19 research.
Vanderbilt confirmed Parton's funding supported what a researcher described as "critical" early stages of research connected to Moderna's COVID-19 (搜索) vaccine.
The early-stage trial of the Moderna vaccine that her donation helped fund found it offered nearly 95% protection against severe COVID-19 (搜索).
Country music legend Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80, leaves behind a philanthropic legacy that extended directly into the fight against COVID-19 (搜索). In 2020, as the pandemic gripped the world, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to support research into COVID-19, a contribution that helped fund early research connected to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.
The donation created the Dolly Parton COVID-19 (搜索) Research Fund. Vanderbilt later confirmed that Parton's money funded what a researcher described as "critical" early stages of the vaccine research. A portion of the money went toward funding an early-stage trial of the Moderna vaccine, which found it to offer nearly 95% protection against severe COVID-19.
Parton publicly encouraged vaccination during the pandemic, reimagining her hit song "Jolene" with the lyrics "vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I'm begging of you, please don't hesitate." She also showed herself being injected, saying, "I'm old enough to get it and I'm smart enough to get it."
Expanding Support to Pediatric Infectious Disease Research
Parton's commitment to medical research did not end with COVID-19 (搜索). Two years later, she donated another $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, this time to support pediatric infectious disease research. The donation supported research into infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance, and the diagnosis and treatment of infections in children with cancer.
"I love children," Parton said in a statement announcing the donation. "No child should ever have to suffer, and I'm willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible."
A Broader Legacy of Medical Philanthropy
Parton's support for medical research spanned decades. A benefit concert in 2007 raised $1 million for a new hospital and cancer center in Sevier County, Tennessee, which includes a Dolly Parton Center for Women's Services. Ten years later, she released a children's album, "I Believe in You," and donated another $1 million to Nashville's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, after her niece was treated for leukaemia (搜索) there.
Earlier this year, the East Tennessee Children's Hospital announced it would be renamed the Dolly Parton Children's Hospital, after the star partnered with the not-for-profit facility.
Recognition for Decades of Giving
Parton's decades of charitable work earned her the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022, which honored her as "one of the entertainment world's most generous philanthropists." Her giving was closely tied to where she came from and the people she hoped to help, reflecting a philosophy she articulated simply: "I'm kind of addicted to the feeling of giving. Knowing that I'm doing something good for someone else."