MOH slams rumours linking Singapore Sports School student's death to COVID vaccine

SINGAPORE — Singapore's health ministry has slammed speculation that the death of a student-athlete at the Singapore Sports School (SSP) was linked to the COVID-19 vaccine, calling the claims "untrue, and irresponsible".

In a reply to the media on Saturday (14 October), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reiterated that the SSP had revealed the cause of death of 14-year-old Pranav Madhaik as cardiac arrest with antecedent cause of congenital malformation of coronary vessels.

"Based on the Ministry of Health’s vaccination records, the student had received his last dose of Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine more than 18 months ago," a MOH spokesperson said.

About 60 strokes and heart attacks happen every day, "with or without COVID-19 vaccinations", the ministry said.

"It is highly irresponsible to link the two," the MOH spokesperson stated, adding that for an unvaccinated person, the risk of COVID infection leading to severe illness "far outweighs that of vaccination".

Pranav had died on Wednesday (11 October), a week after he had been conveyed to hospital.

He had felt unwell after participating in a 400m fitness time trial on 5 October, and had been instructed to rest by the badminton coach involved in the trial.

The coach later attended to the time trial data and left the area to brief other students on competition matters, not realising Pranav was still resting by the track.

The Singapore Sports School has since fired the badminton coach, saying that he had not acted in accordance with the school's safety protocols, and should have checked on Pranav to ensure his well-being before leaving the premises.

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