Singapore – Avoid exercising for a week after taking the vaccine
Singapore health authorities on Monday updated existing guidelines on post-vaccination care, asking individuals to avoid strenuous exercise for a week after they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, as a “further precautionary measure”. This new measure is meant especially for adolescents and men below the ages of 30.
This preventive measure comes after a vaccinated 16-year-old boy suffered a cardiac arrest while lifting weights at a gym. Authorities are investigating to determine if there’s any link between his sudden cardiac arrest and Covid-19 vaccination. Previously, an advisory to avoid exercise in the 12-24 hour period after vaccination was in place.
The two mRNA vaccines in use here are the Pfizer – BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. This change has come about due to the “small but nevertheless statistically significant risk” of myocarditis and pericarditis, types of heart inflammation, observed after vaccination with both the first and second mRNA vaccines, the expert committee added in a statement on Monday (July 5). Both the committee and MOH, in a separate release, also noted the case of the 16-year-old.
The expert committee said that while most people with vaccine-related myocarditis, both locally and internationally, have mild symptoms and make an uneventful recovery, “it is possible that the condition may be aggravated by factors or strenuous activities that may affect the heart”.
The expert committee tasked with advising the Singaporean government on vaccination urged for the drive to be continued, insisting that the protective benefits offered by the vaccine outweighs the risk it possesses. A similar stance had been adopted by both Israel and the United States where a few cases of myocarditis had been reported from amongst young male recipients of the Pfizer vaccines. All three countries have been relying on mRNA vaccines for their inoculation program
