Dolly Parton’s sister blasts ‘moldy’ politicians for getting the covid vaccine first

Country music singer Stella Parton, the sister of legendary musician Dolly Parton, has criticised “moldy” politicians for being among the first people to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

In a tweet over the weekend, Parton referenced her sister’s $1m (£756,285) donation to help fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which was approved for use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week.

“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?” Parton tweeted on Saturday.

“I noticed you started getting vaccinated right away while people are starving and dying you Aholes,” the singer added.

At the time of writing, the tweet has garnered more than 380,000 likes and at least 60,000 retweets on Twitter.

Vice president Mike Pence was administered the coronavirus vaccine live on television on Friday, while other high-profile politicians were also vaccinated in recent days to promote the safety of the treatment.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, also tweeted photos of themselves being vaccinated. President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled to receive his first dose of the vaccine on Monday.

Parton’s tweet came as representatives in Congress continued to face pressure to pass the first coronavirus relief legislation since spring, as the ongoing pandemic is still keeping millions of Americans out of work.

On Sunday evening, US lawmakers agreed a deal worth roughly around $900bn (£660bn) in aid, which included unemployment programmes and money for businesses.

Despite attempts from both Republican and Demcoratic representatives to provide stimulus cheques worth $1,200 (£906), most Americans will only receive $600 (£453.21) as part of the deal.

The US has seen a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases in the past couple of months, and set a new daily record on Friday, with 249,709 positive Covid-19 tests recorded across the country.

In the past week, more than 18,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US, as hospitals are struggling to deal with the number of coronavirus patients.

According to the Hill, at least 350,000 shots of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech have been administered across the US so far, as 1.8 million people have received their first dose worldwide.

A separate vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Moderna will also start being distributed this week, as the US begins to vaccinate front-line workers.

In November, Parton’s sister told the BBC’s The One Show that she was “so excited” to hear that her donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, had helped develop the Moderna vaccine. The medical centre held trails for the vaccine at the start of its development.

The singer added: “I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world.”

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 17.8 million people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached 317,670.