Northborough man delivers first vaccines to UMass Memorial Medical Center

By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor

Region – After 10 months of a devastating pandemic, history was made this week as Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Almost immediately, a complicated transportation plan was implemented, using vast networks of delivery companies to get the vaccines to hospitals across the country as soon as possible. As such, a Northborough man played an important role in ensuring the first shipment of the precious cargo was safely delivered to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Early on the morning of Dec. 15, Dave Jacobs, an eight-year FedEx employee, sat in his van in the parking lot of the Price Chopper in Shrewsbury, awaiting another van that had picked up the vaccines at Logan Airport. As soon as that driver arrived, Jacobs carefully loaded the medium-sized carton into his van and logged it in per the company’s protocols.

“The boxes all have tracking sensors and must be carefully transported because they are so fragile,” he said. “They are tracked every step of the way.”

Immediately after he logged the carton in, he drove a few more miles down Route 9 to the hospital’s Lake Avenue North campus. There he transferred the vaccines into the care of Madeline Karcasinas, the head of UMass’s pharmacies.

Jacobs said UMass is one of his regular delivery stops each week so he has gotten to know many of the employees there. But this delivery was extra special.

“It was a bit stressful and a lot of responsibility,” he said. “But it was also humbling and a great honor.”