There’s a Very Selfless Reason Tom Hanks Doesn’t Want the Coronavirus Vaccine Yet
Talk about a *true* American hero.
While virtually visiting the Today show to promote his new western News of the World, Tom Hanks said he and wife Rita Wilson will be getting the COVID-19 vaccine…just not yet. Hanks said in the interview, which aired December 21st, that he wants to wait until others who need it more have gotten the opportunity to get vaccinated.
“We’ll be getting it long after everybody who truly needs to get it,” said Hanks, who tested positive for the virus earlier this year. “Yes, we had it, and it was a tough couple of 10 days, but I think [what] was much more important is the second half of the COVID-19 formula: We didn’t give it to anybody,” he said to Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, noting that he and Wilson went into total lockdown once they tested positive.
Hanks and Wilson announced via Instagram that they tested positive while in Australia for News of the World. “We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else,” Hanks wrote in the caption of his March 12th post. “There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time.”
There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no? he added. Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball.
And Hanks and Wilson are still doing their absolute best to keep others safe. “We wear masks, and we still do—not just so we don’t catch it, but so that you don’t give it to somebody in case you’re one of those asymptomatic carriers,” he told Guthrie.
When asked if he would go on television while receiving his vaccine like political officials and medical experts, Hanks said, Yeah, sure!
And like so many of us trying to avoid the spread of COVID-19, Hanks said the family Christmas celebrations will be “muted” compared to other years—Hanks hadn’t even done his shopping as of December 17th.
Stay at home, stay isolated, and hunker down to ride out the rest of the pandemic in a safe and socially distant manner. The vaccine is coming, and Hanks is stepping aside to free one up for the rest of us, and for that, he will forever be our hero.
