Dolly Parton receives coronavirus vaccine she helped fund: 'I'm so excited'
'9 to 5' singer donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University to help develop a vaccine
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Dolly Parton has received her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
On Tuesday, the country music legend, 75, posted a photo and video of herself at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center getting the injection from a medical professional.
"Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine," the "Jolene" singer captioned the video.
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"I'm finally going to get my vaccine, I'm so excited!" Parton exclaimed. "I've been waiting a while, I'm old enough to get it and I'm smart enough to get it."
Parton then sings a "vaccine" version of her famed hit, "Jolene," before she is later seen putting on a blue mask as the doctor enters the video to administer the shot. Parton then bravely takes the shot without a flinch.
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Back in April 2020, Parton announced that she was donating $1 million to researchers at the university to help develop a vaccine.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the donation made by Parton and the work done by researchers at Vanderbilt during trial phases directly led to Moderna announcing it had produced a coronavirus vaccine that is nearly 95% effective.
Speaking of her donation to The Associated Press last month, the songstress said: "Well, I follow my heart. I’m a person of faith and I pray all the time that God will lead me into the right direction and let me know what to do."
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"When the pandemic first hit, that was my first thought, 'I need to do something to try to help find a vaccination.' I just did some research with the people at Vanderbilt (University) — they’re wonderful people, they’ve been so good through the years to my people in times of illness and all that. I just asked if I could donate a million dollars to the research for a vaccine," she continued.
Dolly Parton donated $1 million to help develop a vaccine for the coronavirus which ended up becoming the Moderna vaccine. (AP, File)
Parton noted that she "legally" could have received the vaccine in January.
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The performer turned 75 back on Jan. 19, and she revealed that she actually considered receiving it that very day but changed her mind.
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"I was going to do it on my birthday, and I thought, 'Nah, don’t do that,'" she explained. "You’ll look like you’re just doing a show. None of my work is really like that. I wasn’t doing it for a show. I’m going to get mine. I want it. I’m going to get it.
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"When I get it, I’ll probably do it on camera so people will know and I’ll tell them the truth, if I have symptoms and all that. Hopefully it’ll encourage people. I’m not going to jump the line just because I could," the Grammy-winner added.
Fox News' Melissa Roberto contributed to this report.