Dolly Parton Receives Moderna Vaccine for COVID-19
She's vaccinated, y'all!
Dolly Parton is the latest iconic country star to get her coronavirus vaccine. The 75-year-old superstar shared a photo to Twitter of herself receiving the injection at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The star posted a cheeky caption with the snap, writing “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.” The message is a nod to Parton’s generous contribution of $1 million that went towards the research of the new Moderna vaccine.
“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,” she shared previously of her decision to donate towards the cause.
It was just a month ago that the Tennessee native shared that she was waiting to receive the vaccine until it was absolutely necessary, in the hopes that people who really needed the injection would be able to receive it.
“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,” Parton told the Associated Press. “I’m very funny about that. I’m going to get mine though, but I’m going to wait. 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,” she continued. “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 is the latest country icon to receive the vaccine. She follows both Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson, who both took to social media to share photos of their experiences and encourage fans to get theirs too.
“Well, I bundled up and Peggy Jean and I rolled out of Hurricane Mills so I could get this vaccine,” said Lynn. “I’m sure glad to get it and am sure ready to put Covid in the rear view mirror! And I enjoyed the mom daughter time, too!”
“Get your shot!” Nelson wrote on Facebook. “Take care of yourself and others.”
Parton has been a leading force in encouraging the creation of the COVID-19 vaccine. Her philanthropic work has been a bright light throughout the last year and even encouraged Tennessee state representative John Mark Windle to start a bill to build a statue in her honor at the state capitol. As flattered as she was by the movement, Parton ended up asking the legislature to remove the bill.
“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” she continued. “I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone, if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.”
