In the wake of a tragic incident involving a 14-year-old student from the Singapore Sports School, Pranav Madhaik, who passed away after feeling unwell during a fitness time trial, there has been speculation regarding the role of COVID-19 vaccination in his untimely demise.
On 14 October, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has since swiftly refuted the speculations and called them “untrue and irresponsible”, according to Channel NewsAsia.
The Tragic Incident
On October 5, Pranav Madhaik, a Secondary 2 student at the Singapore Sports School, participated in a 400m fitness time trial. Unfortunately, he fell ill during the event.
The school, following an investigation, revealed that Pranav’s cause of death was cardiac arrest with an antecedent cause of congenital malformation of coronary vessels.
This tragic event was, in fact, a result of a pre-existing medical condition and not connected to his recent COVID-19 vaccination.
MOH response
According to the Ministry of Health, Pranav had received his last dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine more than 18 months ago. This information underscores the point that his vaccination played no role in his tragic demise.
MOH added that about 60 strokes and heart attacks happen every day, with or without COVID-19 vaccinations. It is highly irresponsible to link the two, and that for unvaccinated persons, the risk of covid infection leading to severe illness far outweighs that of someone who is vaccinated.
Timeline of events
On 5 Oct 2023, Pranav Madhaik, a 14-year-old student-athlete of the Singapore Sports School Badminton academy, completed a 400m fitness time trial at around 1826hrs. Timetrials and conditioning sessions are a regular part of student-athletes’ training plans.
Pranav went to the Badminton coach and reported that he felt unwell. The coach told him to rest as he had previously reported being unwell but recovered after resting.
Pranav rested at the side of the starting point while the Badminton coach attended to the time-trial data on his phone. He subsequently left the track to brief other student-athletes on competition matters, not realising that Pranav was still resting at the same location. The coach then left the school premises after the briefing.
While Pranav was resting, he interacted with two other groups of student-athletes that walked by. A few of them approached him and, according to their accounts, did not notice anything unusual with Pranav at the time. The last group interacted with Pranav at around 1835hrs.
At around 1840hrs, a Track and Field coach who was walking by noticed Pranav at the side of the track and approached him to enquire about his condition. The Track and Field coach asked a student-athlete to get water for Pranav. When the student-athlete returned with water, he made another trip to get cold water at Pranav’s request. Subsequently, after the coach assessed that Pranav had difficulty getting up even with help from other student-athletes, he activated the school’s Boarding staff to assist at 1845hrs as the Boarding premises were close by.
An ambulance was called at about 1850hrs and Boarding staff called Pranav’s parents at 1853hrs.
The ambulance arrived at about 1902hrs and conveyed Pranav to the National University Hospital at about 1919hrs, with the Badminton coach who had returned to accompany Pranav. Pranav was warded and given medical care. He passed away on 11 Oct The cause of death was cardiac arrest with antecedent cause of congenital malformation of coronary vessels
Findings from investigation
It was found that the Badminton coach should have checked on Pranav to ensure his well-being before leaving the track. He did not account for all his student-athletes before dismissing them from training, which was not in accordance with the school’s safety protocols.
The Singapore Sports School takes this matter seriously. The coach has been served a notice of dismissal. The School is also reviewing and strengthening all its safety protocols and emphasised to coaches and staff the importance of adhering to them.
Singapore Sports School has met with the parents of Pranav on the evening of 13 Oct and shared with them the findings above. The School extends our deepest condolences to the family of Pranav, and is supporting the family in their time of grief.