Shane Warne’s son Jackson has blamed the Covid vaccine for the cricket legend’s 2022 death, despite an autopsy finding that he had congenital heart disease.

The 26-year-old said that even if his father had underlying health issues, he believed the vaccine “brought it straight to the surface”.

“I definitely think that it was involved. I don’t even think saying that is controversial anymore,” he told the 2 Worlds Collide podcast.

“My first impression, as soon as I hung up the phone, I instantly blamed the government. I instantly blamed Covid and the vaccine.”

The former Australian cricketer died in March 2022 while on a lads’ holiday on the Thai island of Koh Samui. The 52-year-old was found unresponsive in his rooms at the luxurious Samujana Villas just an hour after two women were seen on CCTV leaving his room.

An autopsy in Thailand found Warne died of natural causes due to congenital heart disease.

Three years after his death, it was revealed that two types of Viagra and a drug known to improve longevity were found in the bedroom in his suite.

Paramedics who rushed to the room reportedly discovered Sildenafil, marketed as Viagra, Kamagra, an unregulated version of Viagra available in jelly sachets, and Dapoxetine, a drug used to prevent premature ejaculation.

Jackson Warne told the podcast he had wanted to speak out about the Covid vaccine at the state memorial for his father.

“At the state memorial, I nearly said I blame the government and Covid, but I didn’t. It was probably smart I didn’t — I’d be in a very different position if I did,” he said.

“But that was how I felt. Even the last three or four years, I have not changed my tune.

“At the end of the day, we’ll never know. The autopsy is online. I know what happened to him.

“Dad, at the time, was healthy, he was happy. He looked the best he had in a while. Yes, he smoked and drank, but how many more people in their 80s and 90s still smoke and drink a lot more than dad?

“Yes, a lot of people were dying of heart attacks before. But dad was OK, I think he might have got three or four [vaccine doses], he didn’t want to get them, he was forced to get them for work.

“He was forced to get them like everybody else. Dad wasn’t the only person. When dad passed, he was probably the most famous Australian that people could go, ‘yep, that’s Covid’, but I try not to think about it too much because all that does is fester into anger. That anger is not good for anybody.”

During his 15-year international career, Warne was widely regarded as one of cricket’s greatest leg-spinners.

Off the pitch, he was known for his flamboyant lifestyle.

His 10-year marriage to Simone Callahan, with whom he had three children, ended in divorce. He was later engaged to actress Liz Hurley, though the couple eventually separated.

Warne, a habitual smoker and drinker, had also been on a liquid diet in the weeks leading up to his death.

“Operation shred has started (10 days in) & the goal by July is to get back to this shape from a few years ago,” he wrote above a bare-chested picture of his taut, ripped younger self posted to social media on the night he arrived at Samujana Villas.