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Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, on how the DCU field hospital is filling up with Covid patients, and the status of Covid vaccinations (1:12:51)

Hospital beds in Massachusetts are filling up fast amid a surge in coronavirus cases, and if the number of cases continues to rise, they may soon be full.

On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said the state's health care system is under immense pressure, as the seven day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations has more than doubled within the last month.

The number of hospital beds that are currently available statewide is much lower than it was during the first COVID-19 surge in the late spring.

UMass Memorial Health Care and Harrington Health Care System, seeking to become officially affiliated, have taken another step forward in the process by filing with state regulatory agencies.

The health care systems have jointly submitted the first in a series of required filings for UMass Memorial to become the parent company of Harrington, UMass Memorial said in a statement Tuesday. This would make Harrington Hospital, system employees and the medical group members of the UMass Memorial Health Care system.

UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, plans to have all of its health providers vaccinated against coronavirus by mid-February, a period of roughly two months.

All of the system's caregivers are expected to have at least appointments in place for vaccinations by Jan. 11, according to a memo sent to employees Friday. Those who are providing care directly to COVID-19 patients are going first, followed by those with less contact with virus patients, and then other providers.

UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest employer in Central Massachusetts, plans to have all of its health providers vaccinated against coronavirus by mid-February, a period of roughly two months.

All of the system's caregivers are expected to have at least appointments in place for vaccinations by Jan. 11, according to a memo sent to employees Friday. Those who are providing care directly to COVID-19 patients are going first, followed by those with less contact with virus patients, and then other providers.

Nine months into the pandemic, doctors who have been treating COVID patients say the vaccine is their greatest source of hope.

Dr. Gayle Galletta has anticipated this moment for months. “Excitement would be an odd word, but relief,” Galletta said after she got the shot.

Relief that she’s getting a vaccine that will also protect people around her. Early on, the emergency medicine physician at UMass Memorial Hospitals in Worcester and Clinton worried constantly she’d bring the virus home to her family.

UMass Memorial is in the process of rolling out thousands of doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine after receiving its first shipments earlier this week. The first vaccinations took place on Wednesday, with thousands of frontline workers in line to get it. Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to talk more on the first week of the vaccine rollout.