{"id":6084,"date":"2026-08-26T22:18:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6084"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:18:32","slug":"dolly-parton-once-gave-1-million-to-help-develop-the-moderna-covid-vaccine-at-vanderbilt-im-kind-of-addicted-to-the-feeling-of-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6084","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton once gave $1 million to help develop the Moderna COVID vaccine at Vanderbilt: \u2018I\u2019m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>\u201cMy longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who\u2019s been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure,\u201d Parton wrote on social media in April 2020. \u201cI am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6082\">Baby boomers are collecting 265% of what they paid into Social Security\u2014and millennials are paying the price<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeep the faith,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Vanderbilt University Medical Center, based in her home state of Tennessee, was working with pharmaceutical giant Moderna\u2014which went on to develop one of the most widely used vaccinations. Parton later said she was surprised to learn about the connection, but was happy to also become an unlikely face of vaccine confidence among skeptics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a big shock,\u201d she told <em>PEOPLE<\/em> at the time. \u201cEverybody was calling congratulating me, and I was saying, \u2018Well, for what?\u2019 And then of course my fans took it and ran with it: \u2018I\u2019m getting the Dolly vaccine! I\u2019m getting the Dolly juice!\u2019 I guess they thought if Dolly got it, it might be pretty safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Overall, more than 250 million people globally received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, while COVID vaccinations as a whole are estimated to have saved at least 14 million lives in the first year of their rollout alone. But Parton was quick to downplay her role, maintaining that her contribution was minimal.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI got more credit than I deserved,\u201d she added. \u201cI was just trying to put my money where my heart is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parton\u2019s net worth was estimated at $450 million at the time of her passing, built on an empire spanning music as well as beauty, apparel, kitchenware, and her East Tennessee theme park, Dollywood.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Fortune<\/em> reached out to Moderna for comment.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Parton amassed a $450 million fortune\u2014but she spent much of her life giving it away<\/h2>\n<p>Philanthropy has been core to Parton throughout her life, in part because she knew what it was like to go without. She grew up with 11 siblings in a small cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains with no running water, electricity, or indoor plumbing. Their mother, Avie Lee, would sew scraps of fabric together to make clothes for the family.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6080\">Exclusive: Struggling DraftKings awards $30 million marketing contract to cofounder who recently stepped down<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her father, Robert Lee Parton, never learned to read or write, but he became the inspiration for Dolly\u2019s education work. In 1995, she started Imagination Library, mailing free books to children in her home county. It has since exploded into a global operation, delivering more than 3 million books a month across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and Australia. In total, the program has now shipped more than 300 million books.<\/p>\n<p>Her approach to giving was rooted in the lessons she learned growing up: \u201cJust remember the lessons my family taught me,\u201d Parton said in a video for her Imagination Library. \u201cDream big dreams, and learn everything you can. And care for those who care for you\u2014you do all of these things and you can be anyone you want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>She\u2019s also given away millions of dollars to natural disaster relief over the years\u2014raising $700,000 for flood victims near her home in 2021, and contributing $1 million toward Hurricane Helene recovery in East Tennessee in 2024, on top of another $1 million from her businesses and the Dollywood Foundation.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In addition to the $1 million for COVID-19 vaccine research, she gave another $1 million to the Vanderbilt medical system in 2022 for pediatric infectious-disease research. It was the same hospital system where Parton died this week after a brief battle with cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving,\u201d Parton told <em>PEOPLE<\/em>in 2021. \u201cKnowing that I\u2019m doing something good for someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6078\">Former CFTC Commissioner: Wall Street has used these financial contracts for decades. Now a goat herder does too<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dolly Parton had a $450 million fortune at her passing, but spent much of her life giving it away\u2014including $1 million toward COVID-19 vaccine research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philanthropy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dolly Parton once gave $1 million to help develop the Moderna COVID vaccine at Vanderbilt: \u2018I\u2019m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6084\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dolly Parton once gave $1 million to help develop the Moderna COVID vaccine at Vanderbilt: \u2018I\u2019m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving\u2019 - 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