Country star Dolly Parton has another new appearance: singing the praises of the coronavirus recordings and getting vaccinated in front of the camera.
Last year, Ms. Parton donated $ 1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which worked with drug maker Moderna to develop one of the first coronavirus vaccines approved in the United States. The federal government eventually invested $ 1 billion to develop and test the vaccine, but the head of the research effort, Dr. Mark Denison said the singer’s donation helped fund his critical early stages.
On Tuesday, Ms. Parton, 75, received a Moderna shot at Vanderbilt Health in Tennessee. “Dolly is getting a dose of her own medicine,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Well, hey, it’s me,” she says to her fans in an accompanying video a minute before a doctor comes to vaccinate her. “I’m finally going to get my vaccine.”
“I’m so excited,” she added on the video, which received more than a million views in four hours. “I’ve waited a while. I am old enough to get it and i am smart enough to get it. “
She also broke into a song (of course), replacing the word “Jolene” with “vaccine” in one of her most famous choruses.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,” she sang, embellishing the last with her trademark Tennessee Lilt. “I beg you, please do not hesitate.”
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,” she added, “because once you’re dead, it’s a little too late.”
Just before the doctor arrived to vaccinate her – or “put me in my arm,” as she put it – she duplicated her message.
“I know I’m trying to be funny now, but I’m absolutely serious about the vaccine,” she said. “I think we all want to get back to normal – whatever that is – and that would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn’t it?”
“I just want to say to all of you cowards out there, don’t be such a squat,” she added. “Go out there and get your shot.”