Selangor Journal
A healthcare worker prepares to administer a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine during a vaccination exercise at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in Singapore, on December 30, 2020. — Picture via REUTERS

Avoid strenuous physical activity for 7 days after Covid-19 vaccination — Singapore MOH

SINGAPORE, July 6 — Adolescents and younger men aged less than 30 years old are advised to avoid strenuous physical activity for seven days after their Covid-19 vaccination, as a further precautionary measure, says Singapore’s Health Ministry (MOH).

According to the MOH, it was alerted on July 3 by Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) to a case of a 16-year-old Singaporean who was treated at the emergency department of the hospital after he collapsed at home on the same morning.

“He was subsequently transferred to the National University Hospital (NUH) in the evening, where he is in critical condition at the intensive care unit,” it said in a statement yesterday.

MOH said he had received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine on June 27.

“He was assessed by trained healthcare personnel to be suitable for Covid-19 vaccination, observed on-site for about 30 minutes post-vaccination and was well.

“He was also well for the following five days after vaccination. Prior to his collapse, he did weightlifting at the gym. MOH understands that he trains with very heavy weights, above his body weight.”

MOH noted that the preliminary diagnosis of his condition is an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

“Clinical and laboratory tests are in progress to understand the underlying cause,” it said, adding that it will also work with the medical team in NUH to determine if this might be linked to his Covid-19 vaccination.

“This will include a thorough consideration of whether there was acute severe myocarditis, which is severe inflammation of the heart muscles affecting the heart function, as a possible diagnosis,” it said.

MOH said the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination will monitor the outcome of the investigation.

“The Expert Committee and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) have reviewed additional local and overseas data, independently of this incident,” it said.

MOH said it concurred with the recommendations by both the Expert Committee and HSA for vaccinated persons to avoid strenuous physical activity after either the first or second Covid-19 vaccination dose.

— Bernama

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