Country singer Dolly Parton joked about receiving her Covid-19 shot Tuesday at Vanderbilt Health in Tennessee, citing the fact that she helped fund the Moderna vaccination.
Parton, 75, posted a photo of herself getting the vaccination on her social media and the caption ‘Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine’. Last year, Parton announced that it had donated $ 1 million to Vanderbilt University to help cure the coronavirus.
The singer also posted a video urging her followers to take the vaccination if they are eligible, saying she is ‘old enough’ and ‘smart enough’ to have her shot. Parton also played with the words of her famous ballad “Jolene” for the occasion.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine,” Parton sang. “I beg you, please do not hesitate.”
Parton encouraged people to ‘get out there and give it a try’ before showing their own vaccination, administered by her friend dr. Naji Abumrad. She told fans it did not hurt.
“I’m so glad you’re here and giving the wonderful message,” Abumrad said.
Parton mentioned Abumrad in her post last year and announced her donation. Her participation in the Moderna vaccine research was revealed in a preliminary report attributed to the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund in November.
“I’m just glad that anything I do can help someone else, and when I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to do well,” Parton told the NOD show “TODAY” in November said. “It simply came to our notice then. Let’s just hope we’ll find a cure soon. ‘
The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in December, the second vaccine to grant the special authorization. It appears that Parton received her first dose on Tuesday and should receive her second dose within about four weeks, following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Parton told the Associated Press last month that although she was eligible to receive the vaccine, she wanted to wait so it did not appear to be receiving preferential treatment.
“I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping on the bandwagon just because I donated money,” Parton said. “I’m very funny about it.”