The masterlist of healthcare workers who will initially receive the vaccine against coronavirus is expected to be finalized by February 15, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in the "Laging Handa" public briefing, said the DOH has the initial list of the COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

"And we gave the (health) facilities until February 15 just to validate again the list that they have submitted," she said.

Vergeire said those initially submitted were the names purely of medical workers, those directly caring for patients.

"But they were not able to provide us with these lists of healthcare workers including their administrative units, other workers inside the hospital," she said.

Vergeire said these hospital workers are included in the recommendation of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group to be among those to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

She said the DOH could only give the total number of the listed beneficiaries when it completes the masterlist.

Healthcare frontliners are on top of the government's priority list on its COVID-19 vaccination program. Celerina Monte/DMS