Italian doctors and nurses suspended over their refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 can now return to work, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday.Italy become the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, ruling in 2021 that they must have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.That obligation had been set to expire in December, but was brought forward to Tuesday due to "a shortage of medical and health personnel", Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said.AdvertisementItaly was the first European country to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, and has since registered nearly 180,000 deaths.Ms Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy railed against many of the measures during Mario Draghi's government, when it was the main opposition party, and she had promised to use her first cabinet meetings to mark a clear break in policies with her predecessor."