Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Secretary Jose 'Joey' Concepcion III expressed concern over the still low uptake of booster shots as it makes the country vulnerable to another surge in Covid-19 cases.

In a Laging Handa briefing on Monday, March 28, Concepcion said it will be risky to fully remove the restrictions in the country if the number of fully vaccinated people who are getting booster shots are still low.

"Sa NCR, yung booster shot lang natin nasa 30 percent. Mas mababa sa ibang lugar katulad ng Region 5 to Region 12 halos below 10 percent lang. So, delikado pong tanggalin ang Alert Level natin hanggang maayos ito (Here in NCR, our booster rate is at only 30 percent. This is lower in other areas such as Region 5 to Region 12 at below 10 percent. So, it is dangerous to lift the Alert Level until the problem on booster shot rollout is addressed)," Concepcion explained.

"Kung hindi tataas yung booster uptake baka may surge tayo sa second half dahil masyadong mababa itong uptake ng booster (If the booster uptake does not increase, we may have a surge in the second half because the booster uptake now is too low)," he warned.

Metro Manila is currently under the least restrictive Alert Level 1 along with 47 other areas across the country until March 31.

According to Concepcion, he was fully supportive of the implementation of Alert Level Zero to revive the country's economy but only when the government achieved booster rates of at least 70 to 80 percent.

"I was all for Alert Level Zero pero dapat, mataas ang percentage of boosting sa mga LGUs (local government units). Mas importante yung level of boosting sa bansa natin. Kailangan at least 70 to 80 percent bago natin tanggalin yung emergency health status (but there should be a high percentage of booster rates in LGUs. The level of boosting in the country is more important. We need at least 70 to 80 percent before we scrap the emergency health status)," he added.

The GoNegosyo founder also underscored the importance of getting boosted as the COVID vaccine immunity is waning.

Concepcion likewise sounded the alarm over the approaching expiry of Covid-19 vaccines in the country's inventory.

"Dapat kunin na yung booster kasi ang iba d'yan, mag-expire na sa June. So, two and a half months na lang tayo dito (They should get their booster shots now because some of the vaccines will expire in June. We only have for two and a half months to get boosted)," he added.