Dolly Parton – singer, actress, icon and pharmaceutical benefactor – received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday that she helped fund.
“I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for a while,” the singer told fans in a video posted on Twitter at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University. “I’m old enough for that and I’m smart enough for that.”
Last year, the Parton fund donated $ 1 million for research to develop the vaccine.
“When I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted to do good and it is, of course,” she said. said when Moderna’s first highly successful results were revealed in November.
But despite her donation, Parton was adamant that she would have to wait in line until it was her time to receive a dose.
“I don’t want it to look like I’m skipping the line just because I donated money,” she said last month.
Well, her time finally came on Tuesday, and she was singing as she rewrote her classic song “Jolene” in an attempt to encourage fans to follow suit.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiiiine, I’m begging you, please don’t hesitate,” she sang. “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiiiine, because once you die, it’s too late.”
Parton received his dose of Naji Abumrad, a professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who took a few minutes to administer it.
“It didn’t take so long to shoot 9 to 5, “Parton joked.
More than 78 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States so far.
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that there would be enough supplies of injections by the end of May – two months ahead of schedule – because pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. agreed to help produce supplies of competitor Johnson & ‘s single dose vaccine. Johnson.
Parton said vaccinating enough people would help get life back to normal.
“That would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn’t it?” she joked.
For anyone who hesitates, Parton had a simple message: “Don’t be so crouched.”