Corrections & clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect the sources of funding to universities involved in developing the COVID-19 vaccine with Moderna. The rating has been updated, as a result, and it is now rated as "missing context."

Moderna says its COVID-19 shot is 94.5% effective
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In this March 16, 2020, file photo, a subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. According to results released on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, early-stage testing showed the first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems the way scientists had hoped. The vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. © Ted S. Warren, AP In this March 16, 2020, file photo, a subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. According to results released on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, early-stage testing showed the first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems the way scientists had hoped. The vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

The claim: Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was paid in full by taxpayers

Social Security Works, a nonprofit organization committed to defending the Social Security program, posted a graphic on Facebook on Nov. 17, claiming, "taxpayers paid for 100% of the Moderna vaccine development," which the post says totaled $2.5 billion. 

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The post was shared more than 550 times and received nearly 300 comments. Some commenters credited Dolly Parton with donating $1 million that helped the vaccine development, a story that trended on social media in late November after the country music icon's COVID-19 research fund was included on a list of supporters for the vaccine in The New England Journal of Medicine. 

Social Security Works spokesperson Linda Benesch wrote in an email that the primary source for the claim was a tweet by Public Citizen, a nonprofit progressive think tank. Benesch also credited a story by Axios in which the pharmaceutical company was quoted saying federal money makes up "100% funding of the program."

More: Fact check: What's true and what's false about coronavirus?

How much did the government give?

Several government entities contributed to the development of the Moderna Therapeutics vaccine, according to the New England Journal of Medicine report.

The report acknowledged the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, two of the centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Fact check: Vaccine recommendations don't link government aid to immunization

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, also invested heavily in the vaccine’s development, a report from the staff of Harvard's Petrie-Flom Center found.

All in all, U.S. agencies committed about $2.5 billion to help develop Moderna’s vaccine and buy doses, according to the New York Times. 

Moderna and NIAID had already been working on mRNA vaccines, with an agreement in place, when the coronavirus came along.

"The agreement consisted of some level of funding from Moderna to the NIH, along with a roadmap for NIAID and Moderna investigators to collaborate on basic research into mRNA vaccines and eventually development of such a vaccine," the Harvard article states. "Such agreements are not unusual for government agencies in general or the NIH in particular."

In a Moderna news release from July 26, the company said it received approximately $955 million from BARDA, and Phase 3 of the vaccine study would be conducted in collaboration with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

The Department of Health and Human Services and Moderna both told Axios the two parties agree to what is in news releases when it comes to federal government funding and other support provided to advance the vaccine.

Fact check: Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine research

What about other contributors?

The New England Journal of Medicine recognized support from Emory University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund and other organizations in the development of the Moderna vaccine, which trials show is 94.5% effective.

The article notes that the funding to Emory and Vanderbilt, as well as Emmes and Kaiser Washington, came through NIH, meaning it was funded by taxpayers. 

Parton mentioned her million-dollar donation and involvement in creating a COVID-19 vaccine in tweets on Aug. 1 and Nov. 17. 

Vanderbilt researchers were "giddy" about the Moderna news after participating in the vaccine research, Director of Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program Dr. Buddy Creech told television station WTVF.

Parton made the donation — which amounts to less than 1% of the total amount of development funding — because of her friendship with Dr. Naji Abumrad, who treated her after a 2014 car crash and informed the country star that Vanderbilt University Medical Center was making "exciting advancements" toward a cure for the coronavirus. 

"Her work made it possible to expedite the science behind the testing,” Abumrad told the Washington Post. “Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it.”

Our rating: Missing context

The U.S. government has given Moderna Therapeutics about $2.5 billion, including federal grants for university research, for the development of the company's vaccine and to purchase doses once approved. To say that the vaccine is fully funded by the federal government discounts a small but very real private donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Based on our research, we rate the claim MISSING CONTEXT.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Moderna vaccine funded by government spending, with notable private donation

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