People who receive a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine can exercise and carry on with their lives as usual, the Health Ministry’s advisory committee for epidemic control and coronavirus vaccines decided almost unanimously last week.
Health experts discussed the possibility of asking newly vaccinated individuals to avoid strenuous exercise and other physical activity for one week after receiving each dose due to cases of myocarditis that were detected in a small percentage of vaccinated people, The Jerusalem Post learned.
However, Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash told the Post that there is no intention to roll out any such restrictions.
“To the best of my knowledge, there is no reason not to exercise after vaccination,” Ash said. “There is a theory and there are some who believe that [strenuous exercise] is connected to heart inflammation – that the intensity causes the heart inflammation – but I don’t think there is any scientific basis for this.”
He said the vaccine committee discussed it but there will be no change in the guidelines that are given to vaccinated people after getting the jab.
“There are no plans to place any such restrictions,” Ash stressed.
The slide deck prepared for the Health Ministry’s advisory committee by officials in the ministry’s Epidemiology Division recommended that “everyone, in particular adolescents and young men aged under 30, avoid strenuous activity, such as intense exercise, for one week after the first and second doses.”
The risk of developing heart inflammation after vaccination remains minimal, according to Israeli studies published earlier this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The studies showed that the cases that were developed were usually mild and the majority were among young males.