Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? With a decades-long career full of hit songs, she’s a true music legend — perhaps the only singer talented enough to be offered a statue in the Tennessee state capitol but humble enough to turn it down.
And during the COVID-19 pandemic, Parton wowed fans once again when it was revealed she helped fund the successful Moderna coronavirus vaccine with a million dollar donation.
According to the New York Times, Dr. Mark Denison, leader of the research effort, said her donation helped fund the “critical early stages.”
And after playing such a generous part in getting the much-needed vaccine off the ground, Parton recently got “a dose of her own medicine,” literally, as she received her own COVID-19 vaccination.
In a video shared on her Instagram, Dolly receives a shot from Vanderbilt Health in Tennessee. At age 75, the singer was qualified to receive it.
“I’ve been waiting a while,” Parton says in the video, mentioning she’s been “waiting in line” since December. “I’m old enough to get it, and I’m smart enough to get it.”
Parton used the video to encourage others to get the vaccine as soon as possible — and did so in a very Dolly Parton way, by singing to the tune of one of her classic songs, “Jolene.”
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine / I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate,” Parton sings.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine / because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”
Parton receives her vaccine shot on-camera, with her usual good humor — and challenges anyone who is afraid of the shot to do the same, so we can all “get back to normal.”
“I just want to say to all of you cowards out there: Don’t be such a chicken squat,” she says. “Get out there and get your shot.”
A big thank you to Dolly Parton for helping to fund the COVID-19 vaccine, and for now helping to get others to get vaccinated!
A class act as always. Share this story if you love Dolly Parton!
