Dolly Parton somehow became even more of a national treasure on Tuesday when reports started coming in that legendary country-western singer had helped fund a highly promising COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna. Back in April, the “Jolene” singer had created the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund, which donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The center played a key role in helping Moderna develop its 94.5% effective vaccine, and once word got out it was thanks to Dolly’s help, the singer quickly started trending as the Twitter reactions started rolling in. Folks already loved Dolly before, but now that she’s out here literally funding a cure for COVID, that love is through the roof.
Of course, no one is more surprised by this latest development than Dolly herself. She stopped by TODAY to share her reaction, and the whole thing was pure Dolly.
“I’m just happy that anything I do can help somebody else,” she told TODAY. “And when I donated the money to the Covid fund, I just wanted it to do good. Evidently, it is. Let’s just hope we find a cure real soon.”
You can watch Dolly reacting to the vaccine’s success and the outpouring of social media love below:
When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Let’s just hope we can find a cure real soon. pic.twitter.com/dQgDWexO0C
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) November 17, 2020
When Dolly isn’t helping folks get through a pandemic with her unwavering kindness and generosity, you can catch her moving late night hosts like Stephen Colbert to tears just by singing and then giving them some trademark sass. “I’d better hush before you cry yourself to death and can’t finish your show,” Dolly joked to a teary-eyed Colbert back in October. God, she’s the best.
(Via Dolly Parton on Twitter)
