US ACTOR Tom Hanks will be donating his blood in order to help scientists develop a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus.
Hanks, as well as his wife Rita Wilson, will be making the donation to medical science to help researchers in New Zealand to develop a vaccine for the virus, which has so far affected more than 2.5 million people across the globe.
Hanks and Wilson fell ill with the virus in March while in Australia for pre-production work for a film centred on Elvis Presley, but both have now made a full recovery.
It is hoped that their blood sample will help researchers to develop a vaccine as their plasma developed antibodies after recovering from Covid-19.
The actor, who has a back catalogue of beloved, award-winning films including Toy Story, Forrest Gump and Big, recently appeared on a podcast where he revealed he and his wife would be making the donation, in the hopes to develop-- as he calls it-- a 'hank-ccine'.
Speaking on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me podcast over the weekend, Hanks said:
"We have not only been approached, we have 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."
Hanks and Wilson were hospitalised in Mid-March and were treated in Australia's Gold Coast University Hospital.
Writing on Instagram to his seven million followers at the time, Hanks said the symptoms came on gradually.
"We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too," Hanks wrote, adding that the pair were taking it one day at a time.
