Another COVID-19 surge is possible in the second half of year if the pace of giving booster doses remains low, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Secretary Joey Concepcion said Monday.

During the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing, Concepcion encouraged the Filipino people to get their booster shot.

"If the administration of boosters among our citizens does not improve, we may have a surge in the second half because the administration of boosters remains low," he said.

The Department of Health website said as of March 9, 10, 675, 663 individuals have gotten their booster dose vs COVID-19 while fully vaccinated persons total 63, 992, 620.

"Our citizens should already get their boosters because some are also expiring in June. So we only have two and a half months left and it seems that there is no assurance yet on the arrival of the new vaccines," he added.

Concepcion explained "if the government purchases new COVID-19 vaccine but the citizen does not want to use it, the money will just go to waste."

He also noted that the Alert Level 0 should not be declared until the booster shot administration has improved.

"The booster shots administered are still low and we know that the primary doses wane on the fifth, sixth month. I am all for Alert Level Zero, but the percentage of boosting in LGUs (local government units) should be high," said Concepcion.

"For me, the level of boosting in the country is more important, we need at least 70 to 80 percent before we remove the emergency health status because we see surges in other areas," he said.

"The situation in the Philippines is still good because even though many people are going out (and) we even have rallies but the cases (have not gone) up and it even goes down because of the vaccination and we have natural immunity because of the first wave of Omicron," he added.

Concepcion said the booster shots administered in NCR is still at 30 percent while that in Region V to Region XII is below 10 percent.

"It is very risky to remove the alert level until it is fixed and that is our problem, the possible surge is not now, the possible surge may be felt in the second half," he said. Robina Asido/DMS