For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO website.

dolly-parton-vaccine-social-crop.png
Twitter

Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vac-cine… Country music legend Dolly Parton got her first coronavirus vaccine shot on Tuesday, and she tweaked one of her most famous hit songs for the occasion. Parton shared a video of herself getting the shot, but before doing so, she sang a new version of her 1973 song, Jolene.

Instead of singing, “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene / I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man /Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene /Please don’t take him just because you can,” Parton gave the lyrics a modern twist: “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 fittingly received the Moderna vaccine. She donated $1 million in April of last year to help fund the research that made that vaccine possible. Her longtime friend, Dr. Naji Abumrad of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, administered Parton’s shot.

“That didn’t hurt!” Parton said after the shot, which she received while wearing a dark blue mask and matching long-sleeved top with convenient holes in the arms. “I did it, I did it!” she said with a laugh afterwards.

The singer, 75, said she got the shot because, “I’m old enough to get it, and I’m smart enough to get it.” She also encouraged viewers to follow her lead.

“I just want to say to all of your cowards out there, don’t be such a chickensquat, get out there and get your shot,” Parton said with a laugh.

In less than an hour, her Twitter video of the shot and song had been viewed more than 223,000 times.

Parton got her shot on the same day that President Joe Biden announced that there will be enough vaccine for all U.S. adults by the end of May.