AU envoy Strive Masiyiwa says an arrangement whereby Johnson & Johnson was shipping Covid-19 vaccine doses to Europe, that had been packaged in SA, has been suspended.

Reuters reports Masiyiwa said the doses, packaged by J&J’s SA partner Aspen, that were already sent to Europe, would be returned.

He says J&J had shipped less than 20-million doses to Europe.

Masiyiwa says the halting of the shipments was partly due to interventions by President Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.