No Evidence Anaesthesia Negatively Affects Covid-19 Vaccinated Individuals — Malaysian Society Of Anaesthesiologists & College Of Anaesthesiologists, AMM

There is a misleading message circulating on the causation and/or adverse reactions of anaesthesia against Covid-19 vaccinated individuals.

The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists and the College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia strongly refute the misleading message circulating on social media platforms on the causation and/or adverse reactions of anaesthesia against Covid-19 vaccinated individuals.

To date, there is no scientific evidence to validate this unfounded misinformation.

Allowing such misstatements to propagate may impact many vulnerable individuals awaiting anaesthesia for surgical procedures and their inclination for vaccination. Hence, the need for us to address this with urgency. 

We may consider asking patients to defer elective non-urgent surgeries if they are recently vaccinated, not because of interactions with anaesthesia, but mainly to confer the full benefit of the two doses of vaccine to protect the individual from Covid-19 when the patient comes to the hospital.

Additionally, patients may exhibit post-vaccination related 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.

If surgery is an emergency, recent vaccination should not be the reason to defer surgery. There are guidelines on rescheduling elective surgeries for patients who are Covid-19 positive and recovery, which is a different issue altogether.

These established guidelines allow for maximal recovery after Covid-19 infection, taking into account the severity of the infection.

We encourage patients to seek expert advice from health care professionals who will be able to provide detailed explanations on this matter.

Prof Dr Marzida Mansor is president of the Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists and Dr Jahizah Hassan is president of the College of Anaesthesiologists, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia.

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