Dolly Parton gets ‘dose of her own medicine’ with COVID-19 shot, rewrites ‘Jolene’ about vaccine
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Dolly Parton says thanks but no thanks to Tennessee state capitol statue, for now
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Exhale, country music lovers. Dolly Parton has received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccination.
The country music legend — who helped fund the Moderna vaccine with a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt researchers — received her shot Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, per an Instagram post.
Her caption simply reads: “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.”
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In a video published Tuesday, Parton, 75, encouraged viewers to get vaccinated because “the sooner we get to feelin’ better, the sooner we are gonna get back to being normal.”
She received her shot on camera from Dr. Naji Abumrad, a Vanderbilt physician she met after a car wreck in 2013. Their friendship led to Parton donating to vaccination research.
“I’ve been waitin’ a while and I’m old enough to get it and I’m smart enough to get it,” Parton said, adding: “I just wanna say to all of you cowards out there: Don’t be such a chicken squat, get out there and get your shot.”
In the video, Parton put a vaccine spin on her classic “Jolene,” singing a capella: “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m beggin’ of you, please don’t hesitate. … ‘Cause once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”
Parton “got in line” for a vaccine last December, she said; the Country Music Hall of Fame entertainer and philanthropist told USA TODAY in early February that she wouldn’t “jump the line” for a shot, despite partially funding its development.
After $1 million coronavirus vaccine donation, Dolly Parton says she’s ‘not going to jump the line’
“I think I’m getting more credit than I deserve,” Parton said. “But I was just so happy to be a small part, and to plant a seed that would grow into something bigger.”
Dolly Parton: ‘The whole magic about me is that I look artificial, but I’m totally real’
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dolly Parton gets ‘dose of her own medicine’ with COVID-19 shot, rewrites ‘Jolene’ about vaccine