Dolly Parton Gets Second Dose Of Vaccine She Helped Fund
Dolly Parton gets the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine she helped to fund
Dolly Parton, queen of country music and paying for COVID-19 vaccine research is **drumroll please** fully vaccinated y’all! The 75-year-old country superstar announced over the weekend that she got the second dose of the Moderna vaccine, and well, technically I shouldn’t say she’s “fully vaccinated” because that occurs two weeks after your second dose (shoutout CDC!), but still — yah!
“Dolly gets a (second) dose of her own medicine,” the singer playfully captioned a photo as she posed with doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt University post-jab.
Last year, Dolly donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Covid-19 research efforts and that research went towards the Moderna vaccine she just finished receiving.
According to The Guardian, the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund (as it’s referred to) has also funded research into COVID-19 treatments, including a convalescent plasma study at Vanderbilt University. She’s been credited in a number of research papers about the virus, because their studies were conducted partially with money from her huge donation, and it wasn’t until eagle-eyed reporters reading the papers last last year noted her involvement in the development of the vaccine that we all found out about it.
Even though Dolly literally paid for the Moderna vaccine, she didn’t even cut the line when the U.S. first rolled out the all-important shot in December. If anyone is worthy of getting a dose, it’s Dolly — she could have marched into any hospital and pulled a “Do you know who I am?” but this literal heaven-sent angel waited until she could secure an appointment and got her first dose at the beginning of March 2021, telling fans in a video, “I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money.”
“I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting a while,” she said before the shot. “I’m old enough to get it, and I’m smart enough to get it.”
At her appointment she wore a delightful long sleeve shirt with shoulder cut-outs, making it the perfect vax-ready sartorial decision and then she changed the lyrics to “Jolene” to be about the “vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccciinnneee,” and sang it for the fans. She also called anti-vaxxers “chicken squat,” and we honestly must protect this woman at all costs. Like, at any cost.
“When I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to do good and evidently it is… I just wanted to encourage everybody [to get vaccinated] because the sooner we get to feeling better the sooner we get back to normal… get out there and get your shot,” Dolly said at the time of her first dose.
Also now that most states have opened eligibility to just about everyone (and Biden says all states have to open eligibility to everyone by April 19), you really can do as Dolly says and “get out there and get your shot.”
**vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccciinnneeee..**
