Data shows that nearly 15 per cent of health service workers in England remain unvaccinated, and the numbers coming forward for a jab have decreased sharply in the last two weeks.

Health leaders, patients’ groups and unions have been quick to dismiss any suggestion of mandatory vaccinations, despite increasing concerns that many frontline staff are refusing the vaccine.

The government recently began a consultation on whether or not to mandate vaccinations for care-home workers, and it was reported that Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust had discussed making the vaccination a condition of employment.

The latest figures show that only 6,259 NHS staff in England had their first dose in the seven days before 11 April, down from 11,483 the previous week and substantially lower than the average of 22,985 per week during March. Now 190,697 workers out of 1,378,502 directly employed by the NHS remain unprotected against the coronavirus, four months after they became eligible for vaccination.

This does not include agency workers, and will include some under-45s who are not frontline staff and are still waiting their turn.

There are fears that compulsion might affect future vaccination programmes.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said that he is in favour of making vaccinations compulsory for all childhood diseases, telling civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Care to work out how to make flu vaccines mandatory for NHS staff. The DHSC did not say if the proposal was still being considered.