MOH Provides Examples of Strenuous Physical Activities to Avoid After Taking COVID-19 Vaccine

After getting vaccinated, you may be strutting out of the vaccination centre ready to take on the world. Ready to challenge your limits, reach your fullest potential, unleash your physical prowess upon the unsuspecting civilian population—

But hold your horses. Perhaps it isn’t wise to get too excited after your inoculation. 

After all, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has provided some examples of strenuous physical activities that should be avoided right after your COVID-19 jabs. 

So here’s what you need to know before you go all out during your workout sessions. 

MOH Provides Examples of Strenuous Physical Activities to Avoid After Taking COVID-19 Vaccine

According to MOH, you should avoid swimming, cycling, running, lifting heavy weights, along with racket and ball games for a period of seven days after you receive your first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The latest MOH advisory also dates that competitive sports and physical education lessons should be avoided as they are considered to be strenuous activities. 

What physical activities are considered safe to do, then? These include casual walking, stretching, working while standing, as well as housework.

Here’s the infographics the good folks at MOH has come out with:

So nope, you have no excuse to get out of your household chores just because you’ve just been vaccinated. 

MOH advised everyone, particularly “adolescents and younger men, aged younger than 30” to steer clear of strenuous physical activities for one week after receiving the first and second doses. 

In addition, if symptoms of “chest pain, shortness of breath or abnormal heartbeats” arise, medical attention should be sought immediately. 

The health ministry also made it clear that this review of its guidelines was not related to an incident involving a 16-year-old male who suffered a cardiac arrest after a strenuous session of weightlifting. 

He had gone weightlifting at a gym six days after receiving his first dose of an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. 

He was found to have used “very heavy weights which were above his body weight”. 

He then collapsed at home and was sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s emergency department before being transferred to National University Hospital’s intensive care unit.

The case is currently being investigated. The possibility of acute severe myocarditis is also being considered. 

According to MOH, most individuals in Singapore and abroad who develop myocarditis after being vaccinated experience only mild symptoms and recover rather smoothly. However, it is possible that the condition could be exacerbated by strenuous activities affecting the heart. 

You can watch this video to the end to know more about COVID-19 vaccines in Singapore:

Featured Image: MOH