Dolly Parton has been filmed receiving her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The 75-year-old posted a video of herself receiving the jab yesterday at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Parton received the jab developed by Moderna, which she partly helped fund with a $1milllion donation last year to the center where she got her shot. Some of the singer’s money went towards funding an early stage trial of the Moderna vaccine, which was subsequently found to be 95% effective.
Related: Lawmakers are considering a Dolly Parton monument & we don’t know what took so long
To mark the occasion of her own vaccination, Parton even treated viewers to a reworked version of her classic hit, ‘Jolene’, singing, “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”
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Parton said “I’m old enough to get it and I’m smart enough” to get the vaccine, and told people that the more people who get vaccinated, the sooner things can get back to “normal, whatever that is.”
“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.”
Parton wore a dress with cutaway shoulders, to make it easier for Vanderbilt’s Dr. Naji Abumrad to administer the vaccine.
Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealth pic.twitter.com/38kJrDzLqC
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 2, 2021
Last month, Parton told USA Today she’d held off getting the vaccine as she didn’t want to appear to be “jumping the line.” She also said she felt her contribution to the vaccine’s development had been over-hyped.
“I think I’m getting more credit than I deserve. But I was just so happy to be a small part, and to plant a seed that would grow into something bigger.”
Related: Ian McKellen “euphoric” at receiving COVID vaccine in the UK
Other celebrities to have been vaccinated and to encourage others to do so include Ian McKellen, Elton John, Bette Midler, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. President Joe Biden got vaccinated on December 22, live on TV, in a bid to encourage others to follow his example.
Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealth pic.twitter.com/JMPQb6zJWd
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 2, 2021
Earlier this week, it was reported that former President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump got vaccinated in the White House in January but chose not to announce the fact, according to CNN.
LumpyPillows
Dolly is just so perfect.
Kangol2
Love her! Thank you, Dolly, and I’m glad you got vaccinated!
vancouverdoug
At first I was thinking “Dolly is jumping the line” But thats OK cause its Dolly. Then I read she is 75 and is definitely not jumping the line. Its just so hard to believe she is that age and I still think she is at most in her 50’s.
Kevan1
A goddess.
RyanMBecker
What a national treasure. An international treasure, actually. Her generosity will literally save lives around the world. What’s disheartening is the criticism she’s getting from anti-vaxxers, some of whom claim to be her fans. If you go to the AP posting of this video on Youtube, you’d see some truly insane comments. One man accused her of selling out to Big Pharma so he no longer respects her. Another claims that the vaccine makes you a “transhuman” because the vaccine has chimpanzee genes.
RyanMBecker
Love the fact that she even gives a little commentary about social distancing and putting a mask on (she tells us that her mask was off because the camera crew was more than 6′ away but she’ll mask up because the doctor is coming).
As an aside, that physician has incredibly bad technique. My guess is that he’s spent most of his time in the lab and not seeing patients, and likely hasn’t given an injection (or drawn blood) in years, even decades. My advice to all of you if to use a nurse, or even a trained pharmacist or phlebotomist, when you get the vaccine.
dhmonarch89
I got the Dolly Vaccine today- arm hurts a little and feeling warmer than usual, but- hey, you do what you have to do. 2nd shot in 4 weeks.
RyanMBecker
The wonderful thing about Dolly is that she’s incredibly humble. As the article points out, she thinks she’s been given too much credit. But before that, she’s also respectfully told Tennessee lawmakers to shelve a proposal to erect a statue of her at the Tennessee capitol (to replace a monument of a KKK leader). She thought that it would be a distraction when so many other pressing issues are facing legislators. And she’s rejected two invitations from Trump, and one from Biden, to receive the Medal of Freedom. She told Trump that she didn’t want to travel to DC during the pandemic, and subsequently turned down Biden because she didn’t want to appear political by accepting him after rejecting Trump. My secret hope it’s that she actually rejected Trump because she loathes him, and will subsequently get another offer from Biden, which she will accept.
Dolly often refers to herself as a trashy uneducated and unsophisticated hillbilly. The truth is that she has more grace, class and business saavy than most people in Hollywood and DC. Compare her with the Trump family, especially the Trump wives, who have lots of free time and money, but contribute nothing to society.
Omit spaces to read this excellent article:
htt ps:/ /ww w. forbes. com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/02/18/dolly-parton-declines-proposal-to-build-a-statue-of-her-on-the-tennessee-capitol-grounds/?sh=7c2eb17139a9
ScottOnEarth
Great comment(s)!
RyanMBecker
Dolly turns down Trump’s offer for the Presidential Medal of Freedom (omit spaces):
ht tps:/ /tinyurl. com/2ekssuaf
Obama says he not giving her the Medal of Freedom was a mistake because he assumed that she already had one:
ht tps:/ /tinyurl. com/a8jhpz54
CityguyUSA
Nothing wrong with waiting a year or several to see if something goes wrong. We used to wait 10 years for a vaccine and this was done in a way that is brand new and tested for less than 3 months. What could go wrong? Your body makes too many antibodies and ends up preventing the cells from doing what they need to do to keepbyou alive. Why aren’t they even attempting to explain the process? Br0ecause it’s not a vaccine but a treatment designed to prevent symptoms not designed to prevent people from getting the disease but like a flu shot hopefully you won’t get as sick. But they didn’t make it like a flu shot. The “vaccine” is used to protect corporations against liability.
Heywood Jablowme
You need a talk with Dolly.
Cam
Except this is all a lie. Try getting your information from scientists instead of from a wellness blog written by Jenny McCarthy.
It’s adorable that anti-vaxxers keep claiming that humanity will become immune without vaccines. Funny, I don’t recall that happening with Measels, Polio, Smallpx, TB etc.. all diseases that decimated people for thousands of years.
As for waiting 10 years. Another lie. Vaccines like the Mumps came out even with all of the health checks in around 3 years, and flue vaccines come out new every year.
But keep on trying!
RyanMBecker
There re so many things wrong with your claims that I won’t go into them. For example, if the overreactive immune response you claimed is true, then if would have already been seen. The immune system simply doesn’t increase initial antibody production months after the vaccination. If anything, immune response weakens. Interested readers can do their own websearch to debunk your other claims.
The real issue right now aren’t side effects, but immune response and durability of the response.
I will, however, slam your first sentence: “Nothing wrong with waiting a year or several to see if something goes wrong.” Seriously? Have you been on some deserted island somewhere, thus oblivious to the suffering COVID19 has caused? You do realize that it’s contagious, right? This is not the same as you avoiding the cardiologist because you’re afraid of bad news. Avoiding vaccination has impact on PUBLIC health.
Cam
Dolly is amazing. She employs thousands, she lifted an entire area of the state out of poverty. When there are disasters she helps people to the tune of millions of dollars and she helped fund this vaccine.
Dolly is a hero.
GayEGO
You go girl! I have had both of my shots, I am 79 and have had no side effects!
RyanMBecker
Congrats.
As for the lack of side effects, that is unfortunately, not necessarily a good thing. Side effects are a sign of the immune system reacting to the presence of antigens. A fever, for example, is the body trying to make itself too hot for pathogens. Older people have weakened immune systems so your lack of side effects is actually expected. The question is whether your body reacted strongly enough to give you immunity, but not enough to give side effects. As another example, it’s also why older patient need a stronger version of the annual flu vaccine., e.g. Fluzone, which has 4x the amount of antigens as compared to the normal vaccine. And that may also be the case with the COVID vaccine. One of the biggest questions right now is how strong and durable the vaccine is in those over 80. Because of the frailty of this population, it was way underrepresented in safety testing. Only time will tell.