The current coronavirus situation “does open a space” to look again at mandatory vaccinations for NHS staff and social care workers, a minister has told Sky News.

Health workers in England were meant to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by April, but Health Secretary Sajid Javid has been under growing pressure to scrap the rule.

There have been concerns that the sector could be left with a massive staffing crisis due to the number of workers choosing not to be vaccinated.

Speaking to Kay Burley, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said Omicron was now the dominant variant of COVID and was generally resulting in milder disease than other strains.

“Any decision that’s taken this week will reflect that reality,” he said.

“I can’t prejudge the decision that is going to be made, but obviously we do recognise those realities and that does open a space where we can look at this again.”

Mr Clarke said the policy of mandatory jabs is something that ministers have “always kept under review”.

“We’ve been trying to strike, throughout this pandemic, the right balance between having the maximum impact in terms of measures that support public safety in the face of the virus, but also have the minimum impact in terms of our wider freedoms as a society,” he said.

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