DOH: Over 4.7 million now in master list for Covid-19 vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — More than 4.7 million individuals have so far been included in the government’s master list for Covid-19 vaccination, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

The total includes over 186,000 health care workers, 1.4 million senior citizens, 3 million indigent citizens, and 164,000 uniformed personnel, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said, citing the February 16 data from the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s vaccine information management system.

Most of the health care personnel in the master list are from hospitals that are set to receive the initial batch of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, she added.

DOH earlier said personnel from 34 hospitals will get the initial batch of 117,000 vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, which are expected to arrive in the country this month.

“Most of these health care workers would comprise those from eligible hospitals na isasama sa pauna nating pagbabakuna with Pfizer vaccine,” Vergeire said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

The Philippine government has already identified the detailed priority population in its Covid-19 vaccination program, which now includes more sectors like teachers, social and government workers, and overseas Filipino workers, among others.

Health care workers are scheduled to get the first doses of coronavirus vaccines.