Unvaccinated NHS workers who lose their jobs in England could end up working in Wales.
Wales' First Minister said he would "not rule out" recruiting staff who left their jobs because of the mandatory vaccination policy in England, which is not in place here.
UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has urged NHS staff in England who have not had their mandatory Covid vaccines to do so amid calls for the deadline to be delayed.
Mr Raab played down suggestions the April 1 deadline could be postponed while NHS representatives have warned the policy could force thousands of frontline workers to leave their roles at a time when patient demand is high.
Frontline staff in England must be fully vaccinated against Covid with two jabs by April 1 - meaning they must have had their first dose by February 3.
On Saturday, NHS workers joined anti-vaxxers as they protested against mandatory vaccine rules which will see those refusing vaccinations sacked - with formal warnings of dismissal to be issued by health bosses from next month. Watch the sassy way Cardiff diners reacted to protest here.
Vaccines are not compulsory for NHS staff in Wales, but Mr Drakeford said a "vast majority" of care sector staff had taken the "protections that vaccination offers".
In an interview for BBC Radio 4 on Sunday, he was asked if he would take on NHS staff from England.
The First Minister said: "We wouldn't rule it out but it would depend on what anybody said in an interview when they were applying for a job. We're not going to make vaccinations mandatory in our NHS.
"We haven't in our social care services because we have succeeded by persuasion by getting the vast majority of people who work in our services to do the right thing and take up the protections that vaccination offers."
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He added: "I don't expect us to go looking for people who have not been vaccinated but, if people apply, then they would be interviewed in the normal way. We'd look to see what lay behind their decision. We wouldn't rule them out but we certainly won't be going out there looking for them."
Latest figures for Wales show a total of 2,504,081 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,349,478 have had two. Meanwhile, 1,800,848 people have been given their booster jabs in Wales. Coronavirus case rates for your area here.
Mr Raab argued that the deadline for vaccination in England did not need postponing because the NHS recruitment drive since 2020 had improved the service's "resilience".
Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Morning programme, Mr Raab said: "Nine out of 10 NHS staff have now come forward and had their vaccine. That is critically important. I do think that we continue to call for those (who are unvaccinated) to come forward to be boosted or vaccinated before the deadline but I think, ultimately, we have to make sure that we don't have people putting patients at risk if they are not vaccinated.
"The deadline is there to protect the most vulnerable in our hospitals but we have got the resilience because we have got nearly 5,000 more doctors, nearly 11,000 more nurses than we did in 2020."
The Department for Health and Social Care's (DHSC's) impact assessment warns 73,000 NHS staff in England could be lost.
Pat Cullen, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said the deadline for mandatory jabs should be delayed or the policy would "backfire".
She said: "Nothing matters more to a nurse than caring for their patients safely. Right now, our members are telling me they can't always do that. We are calling on the Government to recognise this risk and delay a move which by its own calculations looks to backfire. To dismiss valued nursing staff during this crisis would be an act of self-sabotage."
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