The Department of Health (DOH) is set to rollout the second booster shots of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the general population "in the coming days".

In a press briefing Wednesday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the use of COVID-19 vaccines as second booster shots for all adults aged 18 years old and above have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC).

"Based on the updated Emergency Use Authority (EUA) given by the FDA and the positive recommendation of HTAC, we can use our vaccines as 2nd booster shots for the general population," said Vergeire.

"The public may now head to the nearest vaccination sites as soon as we release our guidelines, and that might be in the next couple of days," she added.

Vergeire assured that the country has enough supply of COVID-19 jabs to be used as second booster shots, particularly Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca.

"Vaccines remain to be safe and effective against COVID-19. It is our best long-term solution against the virus," said Vergeire.

"It will really help us if people will get their 2nd boosters so we can see the continued drop in COVID-19 deaths and severe and critical cases," said Vergeire.

Vergeire said cases are projected to go up in the coming weeks from the current daily average of 278 cases.

"Based on our latest projections, as of April 11, we can have 289 cases up to 611 cases daily cases by May 15," said Vergeire.

"In the National Capital Region (NCR) alone, we can have at the very least 30 cases to about 122 cases daily by May 15," she added.

The DOH said more than 23.8 million individuals have received their 1st booster doses compared to 79.165 million who have gotten the complete primary dose. DMS