NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 05: Dolly Parton attends We Are Family Foundation honors Dolly Parton & Jean Paul Gaultier at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 05, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images) Dolly Parton says it was her faith that fueled her decision to donate a whopping $1 million donation to coronavirus research.The country music icon stunned fans in 2020 when she donated $1 million to COVID-19 research being done at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the donation made by Parton and the work done by researchers at Vanderbilt during trial phases directly led to Moderna announcing it had produced a coronavirus vaccine that is nearly 95%.