Stella Parton, whose sister Dolly donated $1 million to vaccine research, slammed 'old moldy politicians' for getting vaccinated before vulnerable Americans
- Dolly Parton's younger sister, Stella, admonished US politicians for not donating to vaccine research and getting inoculated before vulnerable Americans.
- Dolly Parton revealed in April that she had donated $1 million to coronavirus vaccine research. That research culminated in the Moderna vaccine, which was authorized for emergency use in the US last Friday.
- On Friday, American politicians including Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi started getting vaccinated. They received the Pfizer shot.
- In a Saturday tweet, Stella Parton wrote: "If a little Hillbilly singer like my big sister Dolly can invest in the vaccine then why the hell can't some of you old moldy politicians pitch in a few million yourselves?"
- "I noticed you started getting vaccinated right away while people are starving and dying you Aholes," she added.
Stella Parton, the younger sister of country music star Dolly Parton, slammed "old moldy politicians" for not donating to vaccine research and getting vaccinated ahead of vulnerable Americans.
On April 1, Dolly Parton posted on Instagram that she had donated $1 million to coronavirus vaccine research at Vanderbilt University, where scientists later developed a vaccine for the US biotech firm Moderna.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna's drug for emergency use last Friday, following its December 11 approval of a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that frontline healthcare workers and care home residents get priority vaccine access.
However, a roster of US politicians have already received the vaccine already - a fact that didn't sit well with Stella Parton.
"If a little Hillbilly singer like my big sister Dolly can invest in the vaccine then why the hell can't some of you old moldy politicians pitch in a few million yourselves?" she tweeted on Saturday.
"I noticed you started getting vaccinated right away while people are starving and dying you Aholes."
On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence, second lady Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were given their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine live on TV.
Members of Congress including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Sens. Mitt Romney, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Edward Markey; and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bobby Scott also received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine as part of the continuity of governance plan.
On Sunday, the CDC said that more than 556,000 Americans had received a first vaccine shot. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses.
Parton also attacked leading evangelical personalities for not donating to vaccine research.
"I haven't heard of one Televangelist donating one damn cent to the research fund but they sure can fleece the flock and try to cast out demons when they are possessed themselves!" she said.
As Insider's Juliana Kaplan previously reported, Parton has been a philanthropist for years, recently raising money for those displaced by wildfire and donating 100 million books to the Library of Congress.
A number of other celebrities have donated funds to those hunting for a vaccine. For example, Rihanna donated $5 million to struggling nations and vaccine research projects through her Clara Lionel Foundation in March.