Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson to donate blood for COVID-19 vaccine research

PTI, Apr 26, 2020, 12:50 PM IST

Los Angeles: Hollywood couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who recently recovered from the coronavirus, are doing their bit to help in the fight against the deadly disease.

The actors have volunteered to donate blood and plasma for COVID-19 research, Hanks revealed on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!” podcast via MSN.

“A lot of the questions (are) what now? What do we do now? Is there something we can do? And, in fact, we just found out that we do carry the antibodies,” he said.

“We have not only been approached, but we have also said, ‘Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?’ And, in fact, we will be giving it now to the places that hope to work on what I would like to call the ‘Hank-ccine’,” the actor quipped.

The first Hollywood personalities to have COVID-19 infection, Hanks and Wilson revealed their diagnosis on March 11.

They returned home to Los Angeles at the end of March after quarantining and recovering from their symptoms.

The couple was in Australia for the pre-production of Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley film from Warner Bros when they contracted the disease. Hanks stars as Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker.