The European Union will return millions of South Africa-manufactured Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses to the continent.

The African Union’s special envoy Strive Masiyiwa told reporters that all the vaccines being produced in Africa “will stay in Africa and be distributed to Africa”.

“This issue has been corrected and it has been corrected in a very positive way,” he said

His comments follow criticism that vaccines were being shipped away from a continent that has the lowest vaccination rates in the world.

Less than 3% of Africa's population has been vaccinated.