UPDATE: Vaccine project backed by Dolly Parton’s $1M gift deemed 95 percent effective to fight COVID

Tennessee native Dolly Parton is becoming more internationally known these days for her work as a philanthropist than a country music legend and theme park proprietor.

Parton’s $1 million donation is part of a COVID-19 vaccine research project in conjunction with drug maker Moderna and Vanderbilt University that was deemed 95 percent effective in reducing infection, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dolly’s foundation also pledged over $3 million in 2017 to help more than 900 families following the Chimney Tops wildfires in Sevier County and Gatlinburg.

(IMAGE: DP / Official Twitter)