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| - Fact Check: You can sleep through this viral claim saying anaesthetics can kill vaccinated people
A social media post doing the rounds claims that anaesthetics can be life-threatening for vaccinated people. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) spoke to health experts who said there is no scientific evidence till date to confirm the claim.
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India Today Fact Check
So far, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim. Doctors, however, prefer to defer non-urgent surgery in vaccinated people so that they receive the full benefit of both doses.
All of us are trying to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at the earliest. But once vaccinated, can you go for a surgery that involves anaesthetics a drug used to induce temporary loss of sensation or awareness?
A social media post doing the rounds claims that anaesthetics can be life-threatening for vaccinated people. It goes on to suggest that vaccinated people must wait for a month to go under surgery involving anaesthesia.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) spoke to health experts who said there is no scientific evidence till date to confirm the claim. As a practise, however, doctors prefer to defer non-urgent surgery in vaccinated people so they can get the full benefit of both doses.
Expert speak
No such warning has been issued by any vaccine manufacturer asking vaccinated people to stay away from surgeries involving anaesthetics. Health experts in India and abroad too say vaccination should not be an impediment for urgent surgery.
Dr Samiran Panda, head of the epidemiology and communicable diseases division at ICMR, rules out the risk of death as claimed in the viral post. “There is no scientific evidence to validate the unfounded misinformation involving Covid vaccine and anaesthetics,” he said.
ICMR has developed Covaxin in partnership with Bharat Biotech.
The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists and College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, have also refuted the viral message and called it misleading.
In a press statement, they said “allowing such misstatements to propagate may impact many vulnerable individuals awaiting anaesthesia for surgical procedures and their inclination for vaccination”.
AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, in a WhatsApp message to India Today, termed the viral message “fake news”.
We have not found any credible news report that confirms death of a vaccinated person due to the use of anaesthetics.
Do anaesthetics reduce vaccination benefits?
According to the highest bodies of anaesthesiologists in Malaysia, doctors might consider deferring non-urgent surgeries if the patient is recently vaccinated. But this is not because of interactions with anaesthesia but mainly to confer the full benefit of the vaccine to the individual.
However, if the surgery is an emergency, recent vaccination should not be a reason to defer the same.
Dr Marzida Mansor (president of Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists) and Dr Jahizah Hassan (president of College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia) issued a joint statement on Covid vaccination and anaesthetics on June 13, 2021.
“Patients may present post-vaccination symptoms such as muscle pain or fever which may extend through the perioperative period. Deferment here is to ensure that the side-effects of the vaccine are not confused with other side-effects related to the operative procedure,” the statement said.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to talk to their doctors if they are vaccinated and need to be put on anaesthesia for surgery. But nowhere has it warned people against the same.
“Any immuno-suppressive drug or concomitant therapy that will hinder the body’s immune response should be avoided just after vaccination to get the full benefit of the vaccine, but any anaesthetic is short-active so it should not adversely impact the vaccination,” said Dr Samiran Panda of ICMR.
Hence, we can conclude that the viral claim warning vaccinated people against surgeries requiring anaesthetics is misleading.
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