Celebrity News March 02, 2021
Dolly Parton Receives Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine She Helped Fund
@DollyParton/Instagram
Dolly Parton just received her first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine!
The singer donated $1 million to the development of the pharmaceutical but was waiting her turn to receive it.
Dolly got her shot at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University and told Twitter followers, “I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting a while,” adding, “I’m old enough to get it, and I’m smart enough to get it.”
Parton also changed up the words to her song “Jolene,” to encourage fans to get their shot. She sang, “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiine. I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate.”
She previously told The Associated Press of waiting in line, “I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs. I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money. I’m very funny about that. I’m going to get mine, though, but I’m going to wait.”
She continued, “I’m at the age where I could have gotten mine legally last week. I turned 75. I was going to do it on my birthday, and I thought, ‘Nah, don’t do that. You’ll look like you’re just doing a show.’ None of my work is really like that. I wasn’t doing it for a show. I’m going to get mine. I want it. I’m going to get it. When I get it, I’ll probably do it on camera so people will know and I’ll tell them the truth, if I have symptoms and all that. Hopefully it’ll encourage people. I’m not going to jump the line just because I could.”
Parton also explained why she donated to COVID-19 research, saying, “I follow my heart. I’m a person of faith and I pray all the time that God will lead me into the right direction and let me know what to do. When the pandemic first hit, that was my first thought, ‘I need to do something to try to help find a vaccination.’ I just did some research with the people at Vanderbilt (University) — they’re wonderful people, they’ve been so good through the years to my people in times of illness and all that. I just asked if I could donate a million dollars to the research for a vaccine.”
The singer insisted, “I get a lot more credit than I deserve, I think, but I was just happy to be a part of any and all of that.”
