London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jan 30, 2026

Dolly Parton Received A Dose Of The COVID Vaccine She Helped To Fund

Dolly Parton Received A Dose Of The COVID Vaccine She Helped To Fund

"Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiine," she sang. "I'm begging of you, please don't hesitate."


Dolly Parton — singer, actor, icon, and pharmaceutical benefactor — received on Tuesday her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine she helped to fund.

"I'm so excited. I've been waiting a while," the singer told fans in a video posted to Twitter from Nashville's Vanderbilt University. "I'm old enough to get it, and I'm smart enough to get it."

Last year, Parton's fund donated $1 million for research to develop the vaccine.

"When I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to do good and evidently it is," she said when Moderna's first highly successful results were revealed in November.

But despite her donation, Parton was adamant that she had to wait in line until it was her time to receive a dose.

"I don't want it to look like I'm jumping the line just because I donated money," she said last month.

Well, her time finally came on Tuesday, and she was in a singing mood as she rewrote her classic song "Jolene" in a bid to encourage fans to follow suit.

"Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiine, I'm begging of you please don't hesitate," she sang. "Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaciiiiiiine, because once you're dead, then that's a bit too late."


Parton received her dose from Naji Abumrad, a professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who took a couple of minutes to administer it.

"It didn't take this long to film 9 to 5," Parton joked.

More than 78 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the US so far.

President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that there would be enough supplies of the shots by the end of May — two months earlier than previously expected — because pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. has agreed to help produce supplies of competitor Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine.

Parton said having enough people vaccinated would eventually help life return to normal.

"That would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn't it?" she joked.

As for anyone hesitating, Parton had a simple message: "Don't be such a chicken squat."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Lifts Sanctions on British MPs and Peers After Starmer Xi Talks in Beijing
Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair to Reorient U.S. Monetary Policy Toward Pro-Growth Interest Rates
AstraZeneca Announces £11bn China Investment After Scaling Back UK Expansion Plans
Starmer and Xi Forge Warming UK-China Ties in Beijing Amid Strategic Reset
Tech Market Shifts and AI Investment Surge Drive Global Innovation and Layoffs
Markets Jolt as AI Spending, US Policy Shifts, and Global Security Moves Drive New Volatility
U.S. Signals Potential Decertification of Canadian Aircraft as Bilateral Tensions Escalate
Former South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee Sentenced to 20 Months for Bribery
Tesla Ends Model S and X Production and Sends $2 Billion to xAI as 2025 Revenue Declines
China Executes 11 Members of the Ming Clan in Cross-Border Scam Case Linked to Myanmar’s Lawkai
Trump Administration Officials Held Talks With Group Advocating Alberta’s Independence
Starmer Signals UK Push for a More ‘Sophisticated’ Relationship With China in Talks With Xi
Shopping Chatbots Move From Advice to Checkout as Walmart Pushes Faster Than Amazon
Starmer Seeks Economic Gains From China Visit While Navigating US Diplomatic Sensitivities
Starmer Says China Visit Will Deliver Economic Benefits as He Prepares to Meet Xi Jinping
UK Prime Minister Starmer Arrives in China to Bolster Trade and Warn Firms of Strategic Opportunities
The AI Hiring Doom Loop — Algorithmic Recruiting Filters Out Top Talent and Rewards Average or Fake Candidates
Amazon to Cut 16,000 Corporate Jobs After Earlier 14,000 Reduction, Citing Streamlining and AI Investment
Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Powell Faces DOJ Criminal Investigation During 2026 Decision
Putin’s Four-Year Ukraine Invasion Cost: Russia’s Mass Casualty Attrition and the Donbas Security-Guarantee Tradeoff
Wall Street Bets on Strong US Growth and Currency Moves as Dollar Slips After Trump Comments
UK Prime Minister Traveled to China Using Temporary Phones and Laptops to Limit Espionage Risks
Google’s $68 Million Voice Assistant Settlement Exposes Incentives That Reward Over-Collection
Kim Kardashian Admits Faking Paparazzi Visit to Britney Spears for Fame in Early 2000s
UPS to Cut 30,000 More Jobs by 2026 Amid Shift to High-Margin Deliveries
France Plans to Replace Teams and Zoom Across Government With Homegrown Visio by 2027
Trump Removes Minneapolis Deportation Operation Commander After Fatal Shooting of Protester
Iran’s Elite Wealth Abroad and Sanctions Leakage: How Offshore Luxury Sustains Regime Resilience
U.S. Central Command Announces Regional Air Exercise as Iran Unveils Drone Carrier Footage
Four Arrested in Andhra Pradesh Over Alleged HIV-Contaminated Injection Attack on Doctor
Hot Drinks, Hidden Particles: How Disposable Cups Quietly Increase Microplastic Exposure
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
Meta and EssilorLuxottica Ray-Ban Smart Glasses and the Non-Consensual Public Recording Economy
WhatsApp Develops New Meta AI Features to Enhance User Control
Germany Considers Gold Reserves Amidst Rising Tensions with the U.S.
Michael Schumacher Shows Significant Improvement in Health Status
Greenland’s NATO Stress Test: Coercion, Credibility, and the New Arctic Bargaining Game
Diego Garcia and the Chagos Dispute: When Decolonization Collides With Alliance Power
Trump Claims “Total” U.S. Access to Greenland as NATO Weighs Arctic Basing Rights and Deterrence
Air France and KLM Suspend Multiple Middle East Routes as Regional Tensions Disrupt Aviation
U.S. winter storm triggers 13,000-plus flight cancellations and 160,000 power outages
Poland delays euro adoption as Domański cites $1tn economy and zloty advantage
White House: Trump warns Canada of 100% tariff if Carney finalizes China trade deal
PLA opens CMC probe of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli over Xi authority and discipline violations
ICE and DHS immigration raids in Minneapolis: the use-of-force accountability crisis in mass deportation enforcement
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
×