A viral WhatsApp message falsely claims that using anaesthesia can be life-threatening for COVID-19 vaccinated people.

By Tej Kumar

The WhatsApp message, forwarded multiple times claims, "anyone who has been vaccinated against coronavirus is prohibited from taking any type of anaesthetics or dentist's anaesthetics because this poses a great danger to the life of a vaccinated person."

The message goes on to claim that the vaccinated people should wait at least four weeks before receiving any anaesthesia. It further cites an example “a Pharmacy's friend relative was vaccinated two days ago. He went to the dentist yesterday and died immediately after receiving local anaesthetics. After reading the warning about the coronavirus vaccination in the vaccine box, we discovered that after the coronavirus vaccine was given, there was a warning not to take anaesthetics. Please spread this information to protect your family, relatives, friends, and everyone”.

Dr. Naveen Malhotra MD, Professor Anaesthesiology & in Charge Pain Management Centre PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana clarified that all these claims are fake. “There is no scientific evidence to prove this. Any type of anaesthesia can be safely administered by a qualified anaesthesiologist after COVID vaccination.”

The Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISA) has refuted this claim in a press statement as false and has made an appeal to the general public to ignore suh statements. “ISA appeals to the general public to ignore such fake statements and get vaccinated without fear at their turn".

Meanwhile, Press Information Bureau's (PIB) fact-checking team 'PIB Fact Check' said that claim was fake, and there is no scientific evidence for this.