Johnson & Johnson is planning to ask US federal regulators this week to authorise a booster shot of its Covid-19 vaccine, the New York Times (NYT) has reported, citing officials familiar with the company's plans.

While scientists are divided over the need for booster shots when so many people in the US and other countries remain unvaccinated, the Biden administration announced the push for an extra dose in August as part of an effort to shore up protection against the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The US Food and Drug Administration last week scheduled an October 15 meeting of its expert advisory committee to discuss whether to grant emergency use authorisation for a booster shot of J&J's vaccine.

J&J declined to comment on the NYT report and pointed to its press release dated September 21, saying the company has submitted available data to the US health regulator and intends to submit the data to other regulators.

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