UMass Memorial CEO, urging vaccinations, says he enrolled in clinical trial himself

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Health Care President and CEO Eric Dickson

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By Grant Welker

Dr. Eric Dickson, the president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, is urging the Worcester-based health system's employees to get the coronavirus vaccine when it's expected to begin giving doses next week.

Dickson said he can vouch for the safety of the vaccine himself — he enrolled in a Pfizer clinical trial at the hospital that took place over the summer.

"I personally wanted to participate in the study because I believe in the importance of these trials to test safety and efficacy, and I would never ask our caregivers to do something that I was not willing to do myself," Dickson wrote in a staff memo Wednesday, a day before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to give a milestone regulatory approval to Pfiizer's vaccine.

UMass Memorial, the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, expects to begin giving vaccinations to its staff next week, starting with frontline caregivers who have direct or indirect exposure to coronavirus patients or infectious materials. High-risk patients will be vaccinated next. From there, next in line will be the rest of UMass Memorial's patients and then the broader community.

Dickson, in enrolling in the Pfizer trial, may or may not have gotten the actual COVID-19 vaccination, as in the blind study half of the recipients received a vaccine and the others received a placebo.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses a few weeks apart. Both have been shown to be 90% to 95% effective. Dickson said UMass Memorial expects to have enough vaccines for all caregivers who wish to receive it.

Various polls have shown even healthcare workers have some reluctance to take coronavirus vaccines, which have been developed in a matter of only months, as opposed to the typical multi-year development of other vaccines. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in late November found 63% of healthcare workers said they would get a vaccine.

Dickson pointedly advised UMass Memorial care providers that the vaccines are safe, and they've been properly vetted.

"Bottom line is that I believe this vaccine to be safe and effective – based on the best information from the FDA and the CDC and other leading experts from around the world – and is the best solution to get us out of our current situation and help us save more lives," he said. "So, I hope you will consider getting the vaccine."

Among the broader population, polls have varied but generally shown that many remain skeptical about taking a vaccine. A Pew poll in September said 51% of Americans said in September they would probably or definitely take a vaccine, a 21-percentage-point drop from May. A Gallup poll released Tuesday found 63% willing to get vaccinated.