ROME – Medical groups criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government’s plan to allow doctors and nurses who are not vaccinated against COVID to return to work in hospitals.

 The Italian medical group Anaao Assomed said the decision was made “without the involvement of unions and does not resolve at all the problem of staff shortages.” Non-vaccinated doctors and healthcare workers should at least be excluded from “wards where there are vulnerable patients at the highest risk,” the group added.

 The decree, which came into force on Tuesday, effectively abolishes the obligatory vaccine for health workers, although this was already due to expire on Dec. 31. 

 Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of Campania, called the decision “very serious and totally irresponsible,” while the Italian Federation of General Medicine Doctors (FIMMG) proposed an alternative solution: that obligatory vaccination against COVID-19 be inserted into the medical code of practice.

 It is estimated that the new law will permit roughly 4,000 doctors to return to work in hospitals that are experiencing difficulties related to a lack of personnel. The Cabinet decree explained that the move was “necessary to tackle the alarming shortage of health professionals” and “to guarantee the right to health by reintegrating health personnel”.

 However, unvaccinated doctors constitute less than one percent of the total and the same is true for nurses. It is therefore unclear how the return of such a small number will tangibly affect the workforce shortages. Filippo Anelli, president of the Federation of the Order of Doctors, stated, “This anticipated return has no relevance regarding the workforce. We await alternative measures from the government to grow the public service workforce.”

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