Prof. Kapila 83 years of age had history of Diabetes and CAD S/P stents. He had received 2 doses of mRNA vaccine a month before leaving for India.

During his visit he contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized for 4 days but signed out against medical advice.

Thereafter he was admitted to a different hospital where he continued to recover from Covid pneumonia and at anytime did not require any assisted breathing.

On the seventh day he passed away following a massive heart attack in the early morning hours.

Myocardial ischemia, MI and sudden death are known to occur with circadian variation and peak after waking in the morning.

Waking in the morning, physical exertion, and mental stress influence plasma epinephrine levels, coronary blood flow, platelet aggregability, and endothelial function.

A relationship between COVID-19 infection and cardiovascular disease is also well established.

People who are 65 and older or with chronic conditions are at increased risk of cardiac complications.

Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the setting of pre existing heart disease, diabetes, hypertension have increased risk of severe disease and death.

Potential mechanisms of cardiovascular injury include hypoxemia, myocarditis, thrombosis, stress cardiomyopathy and myocardial inflammation from the cytokine storm.

A significant number of patients who recover from COVID-19 have heart damage caused by the virus due to inflammation, even in mild cases.

mRNA vaccine efficacy is 95% which means that there is only a 5% chance of mild to moderate disease following 2 weeks after full vaccination.

The vaccines provide 100% protection from severe illness and death.

Prof. Kapila suffered mild to moderate Covid and did not progress to severe illness at any time.

He being 83 coupled with the history of CAD and complicated by Covid infection likely contributed to his sudden demise.

There is no justification to claim that this was a Covid vaccination failure.

Prof. Kapila will be remembered for his teaching and HIV research.