Dolly Parton has contributed her two cents in the race to overcome covid-19.
The 74-year-old country singer has donated a million dollars to the vaccine research of Moderna, the American laboratories that have developed an experimental vaccine with a preliminary efficacy of 94.5%, a figure even higher than 90% communicated by the Pfizer company a week ago.
The American singer is listed in the preliminary report of the injectable as one of the main investors of scientific research, along with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Emory University.
Your donation has been made through Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenneesee, under the name "Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund", which ultimately went to the development of the new vaccine.
The money hit Moderna's labs in April, after her friend Naji Abumrad, a physician at the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, told her they were making "some exciting strides" in the search. of a cure for the virus.
Abumrad and Parton became friends in 2014 after the singer was involved in a car accident and was treated at Vanderbilt.
“I'm sure many, many millions of dollars from many people went into that [the research fund], but I was very proud to have been a part of that little seed money that will hopefully turn into something great and help heal this world.
God knows we need it! ”Parton recently said on
the BBC's
The One Show
.
The 74-year-old country music icon's donation has also supported Vanderbilt's convalescent plasma study, treatment of infected people with plasma from other virus antibody carriers, as well as the development of several research articles related to the virus.
This donation is the latest example of Dolly Parton's well-known philanthropy, adding to the famous Library of Imagination, the project with which music gives free books to underprivileged children from birth until they start school.
Recently, Parton acknowledged Oprah Winfrey: "I believe that God never wanted me to have children so that everyone's children could be mine and I could do things like the Library of the Imagination."
However, her involvement in the development of the vaccine has not been the only reason why the country diva and creator of
I will always love you,
the song that Whitney Houston would walk the planet years later in the soundtrack of
The Bodyguard. ,
has returned to monopolize attention in recent months.
His
podcast Dolly Parton's America
was one of the most listened to and followed in his country in 2019, last October he released his 47th solo album,
A Holly Dolly Christmas
, his third festive collection;
and her Christmas musical,
Dolly Parton Christmas on the Square
, which she stars alongside Christine Baranski and Jenifer Lewis, premieres on Netflix on November 22.