Nearly 13 people in Israel have experienced mild facial paralysis as a side-effect after getting their first COVID-19 vaccine doses, WION reported on Friday quoting the country’s Health Ministry. The estimates suggested that the actual number of victims could be higher.

The facial paralysis, Bell’s palsy, is a medical condition that causes one half of the face to droop.

According to The Times of Israel, the Israeli Medical Association has warned the people, who developed Bell’s palsy, to hold off on the second shot.

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“For those who develop facial paralysis after receiving the first vaccine dose, we are concerned about administering the second shot since there isn’t enough information worldwide on the issue,” IMA Chairman Professor Zion Hagay told Channel 12, warning that steroid treatments for the condition could compromise the vaccine’s effectiveness.

“For at least 28 hours I walked around with it (facial paralysis),” one person who faced the side-effect told Ynet.

“I can’t say it was completely gone afterwards, but other than that I had no other pains, except a minor pain where the injection was but there was nothing beyond that,” he said.

Professor Galia Rahav, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit, Sheba Medical Center said that he recently came across a person experiencing Bell’s palsy after given the vaccine shot and so he decided to not give the person the second dose. 

“It is true that it can be given according to the Health Ministry, but I did not feel comfortable with it,” Rahav said. 

Ynet reported that the health ministry has said the second dose should be given once the people recover.