Vaccinations are to be made compulsory for care home staff working with older people in England, the BBC understands.
The move first reported in the Guardian, is expected to be announced by the government in the next few days.
Care staff are expected to be given 16 weeks to have the jab – or face being redeployed away from frontline care, or lose their jobs.
The government is also set to begin consultations on compulsory vaccination for other health and care staff.
Care organisations have warned that compulsory vaccinations could cause significant difficulties in a sector which already struggles to recruit.
The government, however, is believed to have considerable concerns about low take-up of the vaccine in some areas, including London.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “Vaccines are our way out of this pandemic and have already saved thousands of lives – with millions of health and care staff vaccinated.
“Our priority is to make sure people in care homes are protected, and we launched the consultation to get views on whether and how the government might take forward a new requirement for adult care home providers, looking after older people, to only deploy staff who have had a Covid-19 vaccination or have an appropriate exemption.”
She added that the department’s response to the consultation would be published “in due course”.
So far, nearly 42 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a vaccine, and just over 30 million have had their second.
On Tuesday, a further 10 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK, and 7,673 more cases.
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