During the time when only 3.5% of the population is fully vaccinated, and only 15% is vaccinated with the first dose, a message is viral on Social Media claiming anesthetics/anesthetic can be life-threatening for Covid-19 vaccinated people. The message might add to already prevailing vaccine hesitancy.
The post was shared on Twitter from username @kamalseela1, with a claim, "Anyone who has been vaccinated against coronavirus is prohibited from taking any type of anesthetic, even local anesthetics or dentist's anesthetics, because this poses a great danger to the life of the vaccinated person and is highly dangerous."
The message has been viral on Facebook as well.
However, a fact check done by the Press Information Bureau(PIB), says there is no scientific evidence to confirm such a claim.
Claim
Anesthesia can be life-threatening for Covid-19 vaccinated people.
Fact Check
India Today spoke with Dr Samiran Panda, head of the epidemiology and communicable diseases division at ICMR, and he denied the claim saying, "There is no scientific evidence to validate the unfounded misinformation involving Covid Vaccine and anesthetics."
He also mentioned, "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 anesthetic is short-active so it should not adversely impact the vaccination".
The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists and College of Anaesthesiologists, an academy of Medicine of Malaysia, spoke in a Press Conference against the viral post. It said, "Allowing such misstatements to propagate may impact many vulnerable individuals awaiting anesthesia for surgical procedures and their inclination for vaccination".
The Indian government's PIB fact check has also made an awareness post against the false claim, with a caption, "A post claiming that anesthetics can be life-threatening for #COVID19 vaccinated people is doing the rounds on social media. This claim is #FAKE".
Conclusion
An anesthetic is a drug used to prevent pain during medical procedures by numbing a specific part of the body, and the effect of the drug is not long-lasting.
As there have been no such warnings issued by the vaccine manufacturer asking vaccinated people to avoid anesthesia, and there is no scientific evidence the post claiming anesthetics is life-threatening for vaccinated people.
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