UMass Memorial To Receive 1,950 Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine Tuesday

WORCESTER, MA — Officials at UMass Memorial Hospital are expected to receive their first shipment of the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday as front-line workers across the United States will become among the first Americans to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which received approval from the Food and Drug Administration last week.

A UMass Memorial spokesman said Monday that the hospital will receive 1,950 doses Tuesday, a day after a Long Island, New York, nurse became the first U.S. front line worker to receive the vaccine. Vaccinations will begin at UMass Memorial on Thursday beginning with the frontline workers that are currently treating COVID-19 patients. The spokesman said the hospital will be able to administer about 500 vaccinations per day as part of the first phase of the Pfizer roll-out.

Because UMass Memorial was part of the Pfizer clinical trial that helped to launch the vaccine for widespread distribution, officials at the hospital are well-versed on how to handle and store the vaccine. The vaccine which will be provided to about 2,000 front-line workers across the UMass Memorial system that will be part of initial distribution which will continue into 2021 and will eventually be used to treat the general public.

Beginning Thursday, vaccinations will take place for about five hours each day, with about 100 vaccinations taking place per hour, UMass Memorial spokesman Anthony Berry told Patch on Monday. Hospital officials will work from a list of providers and vaccinations will be offered in batches and officials will continue to move down the list if people do not feel comfortable receiving the vaccine, Berry said.

Those who receive the vaccine must be monitored for 15 minutes to monitor any allergic reactions, which is why hospital officials are limiting the vaccinations to about 100 per hour. The limit of vaccinations each hour which will the process safe given the space that has been set up for the procedures to take place, Berry said.

Dr. Eric Dickson, president of UMass Memorial said recently that it is essential for frontline workers to be the first to receive the vaccination to help limit the spread of COVID-19 as the coronavirus pandemic continues. According to Dickson, it is critical that the general public understands the need for healthcare professionals to have access to the first wave of the vaccine so that “we have a chance to let the vaccine catch up” as healthcare officials remain hopeful the vaccine will curb the spread of the coronavirus moving forward.

“These two months as we start the vaccinations are critical and if we keep increasing positivity rates the way we have been since Thanksgiving, we are heading for really dark times this winter,” Berry told Patch on Monday.