Tom Hanks shares photo of his plasma donation for coronavirus research

The "Hank-ccine" is coming.
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 
Tom Hanks shares photo of his plasma donation for coronavirus research

Tom Hanks is doing whatever he can to help researchers learn more about COVID-19.

It's been over a month since the public learned that Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for the new coronavirus and were self-isolating in Australia. The two shared positive social media updates about their recovery from quarantine, and eventually returned home to the U.S. after being discharged from Australia's Gold Coast University Hospital.

Hanks went on to host the first SNL at Home episode, and now he's doing his part to help medical professionals better understand the virus by donating blood and plasma to research.

Shortly after it was reported that Hanks and Wilson would be donating their blood, which now carries coronavirus antibodies, the actor tweeted photos of a bag of blood and plasma with the caption, "Here’s last week's bag of plasma. Such a bag! After the paperwork, it's as easy as taking a nap."

In his tweet, Hanks also thanked UCLA and Dr. Anne Rimoin, an infectious disease epidemiologist and director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health.

On a recent episode of NPR's "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" podcast, Hanks also spoke on the desire to donate blood.

"We have not only been approached, we have said, 'Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?'" he said. "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.'"

"I'm not trying to hog it with a copyright," he later joked of the "Hank-ccine." And for that we are extremely thankful.

Tom Hanks once again proves to be too pure for this world, but you know what? Too bad. We're keeping him.

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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