Finance and health ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) leading and developing economies on Friday called for 70% of the world's population to be vaccinated against COVID-19 over the next eight months.

Ahead of an in-person meeting of finance ministers in Rome — with health ministers joining via video link — the delegates announced the creation of a task force to better fight the pandemic and kickstart the economic recovery.

"To help advance toward the global goals of vaccinating at least 40% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70% by mid-2022 ... we will take steps to help boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints," the G20 ministers said in a communique.