10 ms·

Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna’s vaccine. It began with an unlikely friendship

170 points by wallflower 6y ago

MattyMc 6y ago
Of course she did. Dolly is a brilliant, wonderfully kind person. Here's my favourite video of Dolly, taken while she was on vacation in Ireland. Dolly Parton in Paídi Ó Sé's Pub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXFoNrqi3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXFoNrqi3Y The fun starts around the 5-minute mark.
- stickfigure 6y ago
  Lovely! But hard to believe that was impromptu - unless she goes to every bar with a full staff for wardrobe, hair, makeup, nails.... geez.
  - addicted 6y ago
    Probably not impromptu but it’s not unlikely that the entire crew would hang out together on trips.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    I mean, she is so overdone that she is a big icon in the drag community. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” - Dolly Parton
    - entitydc 6y ago
      She even entered a drag contest for the best lookalike. IIRC she came in 4th place.
  - CharlesW 6y ago
    > …unless she goes to every bar with a full staff for wardrobe, hair, makeup, nails… If you search for pics of her "out of uniform" (i.e. without wig, makeup, etc.), you'll see how Dolly can walk around more or less completely anonymously when she's not in her full performance regalia. Generous professional that she is, when she chooses to be "in character" I assume that she's at the ready for performance at the drop of a hat.
  - celticninja 6y ago
    Dolly goes out like that all the time. Not like almost always, I mean always. So yes impromptu it certainly was.
  - bradknowles 6y ago
    She actually does all her own makeup, and her hair is always a wig. Even her closest friends never see her without makeup and a wig.
- deadbunny 6y ago
  She also started a foundation to send books to children ages 0-5, for free[1] about 20 years ago which has sent out > 100MM books so far. She really is fantastic. 1. https://imaginationlibrary.com/ https://imaginationlibrary.com/
- noman-land 6y ago
  Thank you for sharing this charming video.
rasengan 6y ago
Great story - but does 1m really move the needle in biomed/covid vaccinations? If that’s the case then shouldn’t we be seeing a lot more activity? I have seen a carwash funded more so than this.
- criddell 6y ago
  She gave her gift and encouraged her fans to give what they could. She has a lot of fans, so her impact was probably significantly greater than $1 million.
- michaelmcdonald 6y ago
  It moves the needle more than $0.
- kyleblarson 6y ago
  Did you donate more than a million bucks to the cause?
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    Or even just more than $0?
  - rasengan 6y ago
    I didn’t have any path to getting funds into such a thing and wasn’t sure if I could move the needle so I opted to donate 100k to families in need instead.
- caycep 6y ago
  well, by comparison, in medicine, foundation grants go for $25-50k, NIH "training grants", about $98k/year (K23/K08), R01s which are meant to fund entire labs $750k-$1M/year? Could be why a lot of folks are leaving medicine and "going into car washing"...
  - mattkrause 6y ago
    If only an R01 were $1M! The “modular” budget (which many grants use) is $250k/year, and has been for some time, inflation be damned. You can certainly try asking for more, but there’s lots of contradictory advice about whether that’s wise.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Fnoord 6y ago
https://archive.is/NcEpm https://archive.is/NcEpm
drfuchs 6y ago
Dolly Parton's donation was somewhere between Seed funding and Round A, so to speak, at a critical moment, and thus very worth calling out. From the article: "Parton’s $1 million donation went a long way toward funding the “critical” early stages of research and testing. Her money helped us develop the test that we used to first show that the Moderna vaccine was giving people a good immune response that might protect them,” [team leader] Denison said. “Her work made it possible to expedite the science behind the testing,” Abumrad [inventor], 76, said on Tuesday night. “Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it.” See also the actual research report in the New England Journal of Medicine, "An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report" where the credits are, in total, "Supported by the NIAID, National Institutes of Health (NIH)...; by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH...; and by the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund... Funding for the manufacture of mRNA-1273 phase 1 material was provided by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI)." So, it may have billions of dollars behind it now, but without her donation at a critical moment, it may not have gotten to that stage for a much longer time, if at all.
- jseliger 6y ago
  It also seems useful (in a Girardian but not just Girardian way) to demonstrate to other super wealthy people that it's worth donating to biotech and other causes. Effusive praise from fans may help that. And for the super wealthy, seeing that a modest-relative-to-the-scope-of-complete-clinical-trials amount matters is also useful, and may encourage more of said behavior.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  That's helpful context. When I began to consider what might go into a massive, big-pharma dev proj, 1M didn't seem that substantial - like someone tossing $5 at a national food bank. Worse, it seemed to highlight an overall lack of fiscal & resource preparedness (this last might still be reality). Glad to see my initial take was incorrect.
nkingsy 6y ago
Wait is this the same doctor that’s in dolly partons America, as in the host of radio lab’s dad? Amazing!
- compiler-guy 6y ago
  Yes, that is him. If anyone hasn't listened to the podcast "Dolly Parton's America" it is totally worth a listen--even if you don't like her music at all. Totally engrossing on creativity, the history of American music, modern red-state thinking, and a generous view of Appalachia. Extremely listenable and totally engrossing. It also tells the full story behind the friendship that made the early research being this vaccine possible. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
  - anitil 6y ago
    A fantastic podcast series! As a non-American I don't think I understand the zeitgeist about Appalachia, but I was touched by the whole story.
hikerclimb 6y ago
Hopefully this virus mutates so no existing mask works and millions of people die.
hikerclimb 6y ago
Hopefully this vaccine also kills millions of people
caycep 6y ago
Also...just realized, (after reading several paragraphs deep) the Jad Abumrad/Radiolab/Dolly Parton's America connection

170 points by wallflower 6y ago

Of course she did. Dolly is a brilliant, wonderfully kind person. Here's my favourite video of Dolly, taken while she was on vacation in Ireland. Dolly Parton in Paídi Ó Sé's Pub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXFoNrqi3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qXFoNrqi3Y The fun starts around the 5-minute mark.

stickfigure 6y ago
Lovely! But hard to believe that was impromptu - unless she goes to every bar with a full staff for wardrobe, hair, makeup, nails.... geez.
- addicted 6y ago
  Probably not impromptu but it’s not unlikely that the entire crew would hang out together on trips.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  I mean, she is so overdone that she is a big icon in the drag community. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” - Dolly Parton
  - entitydc 6y ago
    She even entered a drag contest for the best lookalike. IIRC she came in 4th place.
- CharlesW 6y ago
  > …unless she goes to every bar with a full staff for wardrobe, hair, makeup, nails… If you search for pics of her "out of uniform" (i.e. without wig, makeup, etc.), you'll see how Dolly can walk around more or less completely anonymously when she's not in her full performance regalia. Generous professional that she is, when she chooses to be "in character" I assume that she's at the ready for performance at the drop of a hat.
- celticninja 6y ago
  Dolly goes out like that all the time. Not like almost always, I mean always. So yes impromptu it certainly was.
- bradknowles 6y ago
  She actually does all her own makeup, and her hair is always a wig. Even her closest friends never see her without makeup and a wig.
deadbunny 6y ago
She also started a foundation to send books to children ages 0-5, for free[1] about 20 years ago which has sent out > 100MM books so far. She really is fantastic. 1. https://imaginationlibrary.com/ https://imaginationlibrary.com/
noman-land 6y ago
Thank you for sharing this charming video.

rasengan 6y ago

Great story - but does 1m really move the needle in biomed/covid vaccinations? If that’s the case then shouldn’t we be seeing a lot more activity? I have seen a carwash funded more so than this.

criddell 6y ago
She gave her gift and encouraged her fans to give what they could. She has a lot of fans, so her impact was probably significantly greater than $1 million.
michaelmcdonald 6y ago
It moves the needle more than $0.
kyleblarson 6y ago
Did you donate more than a million bucks to the cause?
- sokoloff 6y ago
  Or even just more than $0?
- rasengan 6y ago
  I didn’t have any path to getting funds into such a thing and wasn’t sure if I could move the needle so I opted to donate 100k to families in need instead.
caycep 6y ago
well, by comparison, in medicine, foundation grants go for $25-50k, NIH "training grants", about $98k/year (K23/K08), R01s which are meant to fund entire labs $750k-$1M/year? Could be why a lot of folks are leaving medicine and "going into car washing"...
- mattkrause 6y ago
  If only an R01 were $1M! The “modular” budget (which many grants use) is $250k/year, and has been for some time, inflation be damned. You can certainly try asking for more, but there’s lots of contradictory advice about whether that’s wise.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Fnoord 6y ago

https://archive.is/NcEpm https://archive.is/NcEpm

drfuchs 6y ago

Dolly Parton's donation was somewhere between Seed funding and Round A, so to speak, at a critical moment, and thus very worth calling out. From the article: "Parton’s $1 million donation went a long way toward funding the “critical” early stages of research and testing. Her money helped us develop the test that we used to first show that the Moderna vaccine was giving people a good immune response that might protect them,” [team leader] Denison said. “Her work made it possible to expedite the science behind the testing,” Abumrad [inventor], 76, said on Tuesday night. “Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it.” See also the actual research report in the New England Journal of Medicine, "An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report" where the credits are, in total, "Supported by the NIAID, National Institutes of Health (NIH)...; by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH...; and by the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund... Funding for the manufacture of mRNA-1273 phase 1 material was provided by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI)." So, it may have billions of dollars behind it now, but without her donation at a critical moment, it may not have gotten to that stage for a much longer time, if at all.

jseliger 6y ago
It also seems useful (in a Girardian but not just Girardian way) to demonstrate to other super wealthy people that it's worth donating to biotech and other causes. Effusive praise from fans may help that. And for the super wealthy, seeing that a modest-relative-to-the-scope-of-complete-clinical-trials amount matters is also useful, and may encourage more of said behavior.
WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
That's helpful context. When I began to consider what might go into a massive, big-pharma dev proj, 1M didn't seem that substantial - like someone tossing $5 at a national food bank. Worse, it seemed to highlight an overall lack of fiscal & resource preparedness (this last might still be reality). Glad to see my initial take was incorrect.

nkingsy 6y ago

Wait is this the same doctor that’s in dolly partons America, as in the host of radio lab’s dad? Amazing!

compiler-guy 6y ago
Yes, that is him. If anyone hasn't listened to the podcast "Dolly Parton's America" it is totally worth a listen--even if you don't like her music at all. Totally engrossing on creativity, the history of American music, modern red-state thinking, and a generous view of Appalachia. Extremely listenable and totally engrossing. It also tells the full story behind the friendship that made the early research being this vaccine possible. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
- anitil 6y ago
  A fantastic podcast series! As a non-American I don't think I understand the zeitgeist about Appalachia, but I was touched by the whole story.

hikerclimb 6y ago

Hopefully this virus mutates so no existing mask works and millions of people die.

hikerclimb 6y ago

Hopefully this vaccine also kills millions of people

caycep 6y ago

Also...just realized, (after reading several paragraphs deep) the Jad Abumrad/Radiolab/Dolly Parton's America connection