Last year in April, Dolly Parton announced that she would pledge $1 million to the Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville in support of COVID-19 research and support.
Now just under a year later, as reported by Consequence of Sound, Parton has officially received the first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who’s been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure,” Parton shared in a social media post. “I am making a donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt towards that research and to encourage people that can afford it to make donations.”
Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealth pic.twitter.com/JMPQb6zJWd
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 2, 2021
Parton took to Instagram to share her excitement via an IGTV. She starts off, “Well hey, it’s me! I’m finally gonna get my vaccine I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting a while, I’m old enough to get it and I’m smart enough to get. So I’m very happy that I’m gonna get my Moderna shot today. And I wanted to tell everybody that you should get out there and do it too, I even changed one of my songs to fit the occasion.”
Parton says it goes, “Vaccine vaccine vaccine vaccine. I’m begging you, please don’t hesitate vaccine vaccine vaccine vaccine, because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”
Love Country Music?
Get the latest Country Music news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
She continues, “I know I’m trying to being funny now, but I’m dead serious. I think we all want to give back to normal, whatever that is. And that would be a great shot in the arm wouldn’t it if we could get back to that. But anyway, I just wanted to encourage everybody ’cause the sooner we get to feeling better, the sooner we are going to get back to being normal.”
“So I just want to say to all of you cowards out there. Don’t be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot.”