Dolly Parton funded research into the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine

Working 9 to 5, trying to end the global pandemic

It has emerged that singer Dolly Parton part-funded research into the development of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine is said to be almost 95 percent effective at combatting the virus, according to research published earlier this week. Health secretary Matt Hancock has secured an initial five million doses of the Moderna vaccine for the UK. However, the most surprising aspect of this new vaccine can be found amongst those funding it. Look closely at the list of donors adding their financial backing to the Moderna vaccine, and you'll see none other than Dolly Parton. https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1328648264984506369?s=21   Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a research facility in Nashville, Tennessee, close to where Parton was brought up. She was announced as a donor to the Vanderbilt facility in April this year, in honour of a friend who worked there as a surgeon. Speaking back in April, Jeff Balser, the President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said: "Dolly's amazing generosity is a source of inspiration and will have a lasting impact on the battle against COVID-19." Moderna's vaccine was put under the microscope in a trial involving 30,000 people. The breakthrough follows in the footsteps of similar data from Pfizer and BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech collaborated on a vaccine which has a success rate of more than 90 percent. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna's can be stored at relatively normal temperatures. Pfizer's vaccine must be kept in ultra cold storage at around -75C, while Moderna's remains stable at minus 20C for up to six months. Both vaccines use a highly experimental approach to teaching the body to protect against the virus, which involves injecting the Covid-19 genetic code into the human body. According to the BBC, your body's immune system responds by creating viral proteins, rather than the whole virus, which is sufficient to build up an immunity to Covid-19.