Caitlin Wiesen, Chief Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

Addressing a seminar on Wednesday, Wiesen emphasized on Vietnam's plan to set up a vaccine fund worth 1 billion USD and the National Assembly setting aside 500 million USD to quickly buy vaccines from different sources, saying these are important strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the new period.

At Wednesday’s seminar themed "ASEAN and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” organized by Vietnam’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German organization, participants said ASEAN member countries are working towards accessing COVID-19 vaccine sources in a bid to reach herd immunity in 2022.

The seminar said that COVID-19 responding solutions and economic stimulus packages have also been sought with the hope to end negative measures of lockdown and social distancing and speed up recovery.