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Dolly Parton Helped Create The COVID-19 Vaccine

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The Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund is a thing that actually exists, as Dolly shelled out $1 million of her own money in April to help find a cure. Dolly’s bet on a team of scientists at Vanderbilt University paid off with a jackpot, as CNN reports that Dolly Parton’s money helped fund the COVID-19 vaccine.

You can see right here in the New England Journal of Medicine that funding for this vaccine came, in part, from “the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund (Vanderbilt University Medical Center).” This vaccine decribed in that paper is the same Moderna vaccine that early research indicates is 94.5% effective against COVID-19.

Dolly was interviewed by Time magazine at the time of the donation, as seen above. “My little niece, Hannah Dennison, many years ago had leukemia. And she survived it because the great care that they gave her [at Vanderbilt],” she said. “When this came up, I just thought it was the thing to do. I was just following my heart.”

Dolly made the donation in April.  “Dolly’s amazing generosity is a source of inspiration and will have a lasting impact on the battle against COVID-19,” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Dr. Jeff Balser said at the time. “She cares so much about helping others and we are very grateful for her ongoing support. These funds will help us complete promising research that can benefit millions in their battle with the virus.” 

And in an excellent bit of holiday gift timing, Dolly’s Chronicle Books memoir Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics was just released Tuesday.

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Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura- Millionaire in Training

Joe Kukura is a two-bit marketing writer who excels at the homoerotic double-entendre. He is training to run a full marathon completely drunk and high, and his work has appeared in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on days when their editors made particularly curious decisions.