Mandatory jabs were announced for the care sector five months ago, since when uptake has risen sharply. When the announcement was made, just 71.4 percent of care staff had received both jabs, but the latest figures for the week ending Oct 14 show the figure now stands at 88.5 per cent.

But this still leaves 63,495 care workers – more than one in 10 – without a second jab ahead of the deadline next week. They could face dismissal next week unless they have had a recent second jab, while almost 13,000 workers have left the sector since the new rules were announced.

Whitehall sources have indicated that an announcement on NHS staff is expected next week, but that discussions about the lead-in period that would be applied were continuing.

On Monday, Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said that if the plans went ahead the Government should delay until April to ensure the NHS couild get through a “very, very difficult winter”.

He said: “If we lose very large numbers of unvaccinated staff, particularly over the winter period, then that also constitutes a risk to patient safety and quality of care. We know the NHS is going to be absolutely at full stretch, so it makes sense to set the deadline once that winter period has passed.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said on Wednesday night that no decision had been taken.

A spokesman said: “We have taken action to introduce vaccination requirements in care homes and we recently consulted on extending this further across health and other social care services. No final decisions have been made, and we will set out our response in due course.”

Former Department of Health figures have told The Telegraph this is not the first time ministers have backed down on NHS jab mandates after pushback. Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock looked at making flu vaccines compulsory for frontline healthcare workers, but the plans were not brought in after warnings about the impact on jobs.

One official who worked in the department in recent years urged Mr Javid to introduce compulsory Covid jabs for the NHS as soon as realistically possible to protect the workforce. 

The official told The Telegraph: “We had this with the flu jab. We were interested in mandating the flu jab. There was always pushback against it from the NHS. The whole point is that, if you get more people jabbed now from Covid, it is easier for staff. There is an argument that it is one of the best ways to take pressure off staff.”