Hollywood actor Tom Hanks’ blood is being used to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, he revealed on NPR’s podcast. The actor and his wife Rita Wilson were diagnosed with COVID-19 in March when Hanks was shooting for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic.
Later that month, the couple returned to Los Angeles after spending more than two weeks in quarantine.
Hanks said on NPR’s podcast, “A lot of the questions [are] what do we do now? Is there something we can do? And, in fact, we just found out that we do carry the antibodies. We have not only been approached, we have said, ‘Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?’”
Hanks added that he would name the vaccine Hank-ccine, if one were to be prepared from his blood.
Hanks had earlier said that although both suffered, his wife was worse off the illness. On The National Defense Radio Show, Hanks said, “Rita went through a tougher time than I did. She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell. She got absolutely no joy from food for a better part of three weeks.”
Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 2 lakh people all over the world. The United States is the hardest-hit country by far in the pandemic, recording more than 51,500 deaths and over 890,000 detected infections. In India, there are a total of 24,942 cases, including 779 deaths, and 5,209 recoveries.
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