J&J in South Africa talks after government says it hopes for shots this week

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said on Monday it was in advanced talks with South Africa about potential additional deals to fight COVID-19 in the country, after the government put the rollout of AstraZeneca's vaccine on hold.

The South Africa government had earlier said it hoped to get some doses of the U.S. drugmaker's vaccine around the end of this week, quicker than initially expected.

J&J did not refer to vaccines in its email to Reuters, but said it hoped to have more details on talks in the coming days.