Dolly Parton receives COVID-19 vaccine, rewrites lyrics to ‘Jolene’

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton called it “a dose of her own medicine.”

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The country music legend, who has donated $1 million to COVID-19 research, went to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville on Tuesday to receive a Moderna vaccination, The Tennessean reported.

Parton, 75, also encouraged others to get the vaccine in a video she released on her Twitter feed.

“I’m finally going to 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 it,” Parton tweeted. “So I’m very happy that I’m going to get my Moderna shot today. And I want to tell everybody that you should get out there and do it too, having changed one of my songs to fit the occasion.”

Parton then launched into a revamped version of her 1973 hit, “Jolene”:

“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you please, don’t hesitate.

“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, ‘cause once you’re dead, that’s a bit too late.”

Parton received her shot on camera from Dr. Naji Abumrad, a Vanderbilt physician she met after a car wreck in 2013, The Tennessean reported. Their seven-year friendship led to Parton donating to COVID-19 vaccination research, the newspaper reported.

The Country Music Hall of Famer said she was “dead serious” about spreading the message for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Rolling Stone reported.

>> Coronavirus: Dolly Parton donates $1M to Vanderbilt Medical Center for research

“I‘m trying to be funny now, but I’m dead serious about the vaccine,” Parton said in her video. “I think we all want to get 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 anyhow, 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.

“I just want to say to all you cowards out there, don’t be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot.”

Parton also joked as Abumrad fumbled while administering the vaccine.

“Well, it didn’t take this long to film ‘9 to 5,′” Parton jokes on her video before receiving the injection, referencing the 1980 movie she co-starred in with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

The Moderna shot is one of two FDA-approved mRNA shots, along with Pfizer-BioNTech currently being distributed across the United States. Last weekend, a single-dose shot developed by Johnson & Johnson was approved and will begin distribution this week.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was on track to have enough vaccines available to every American adult by the end of May.

Parton “got in line” for a vaccine last December, she said, telling USA Today last month that she wouldn’t “jump the line” for a shot.

“I think I’m getting more credit than I deserve,” Parton told the newspaper. “I was just so happy to be a small part, and to plant a seed that would grow into something bigger.”

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