Dolly Parton is getting some of the credit for a COVID-19 vaccine Canadians might get next year.
Moderna announced Monday it has developed a vaccine that appears to be 94.5 percent effective. The federal government has ordered 20 million doses – enough to vaccinate 10 million people – and has an option for an additional 36 million doses.
The company worked with Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which received a $1 million U.S. donation from Parton.
“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 that research of the coronavirus for a cure,” the country icon wrote on Instagram earlier this year.
A footnote in the New England Journal of Medicine report credits “the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund.”
On social media, fans and others are loving Parton’s contribution to the research that led to a promising vaccine. Here is a sample of the reactions: