Dolly Parton received her first injection of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and, as expected, she made a point of bringing an extra sparkle to the occasion.
On Tuesday, the country icon posted a short video on his social media accounts showing Dr. Naji Abumrad, professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a longtime friend, administering the jab.
Just before Parton masked himself in preparation for the procedure, however, she sang a few lines of “Jolene”, reworking the lyrics to her 1973 classic to suit the moment.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,” she murmured. “I’m begging you, please don’t hesitate.”
The video included a message aimed at antivaxxers and those who may be in doubt about how to mark their vaccines as well.
“The sooner we start to feel better, the sooner we will feel normal again,” she said. “I just want to say to all of you cowards: don’t be so crouching! Go there and take your chance. “
Parton captioned the post, “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine,” alluding to the $ 1 million donation she made to Vanderbilt University last year to fund research for the coronavirus vaccine.
But despite this donation, the Grammy winner nine times said last month that she planned to wait “until more people get theirs”.
“When I get it, I will probably do it on camera to let people know and tell the truth, if I have symptoms and everything,” she told the Associated Press in an interview. “I hope it encourages people. I’m not going to skip the line just because I could. ”
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