HONG KONG: According to the research published recently in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, there is a very small risk of developing a Bell's palsy, a type of rapid-onset and mostly temporary paralysis of the facial muscles after receiving some Covid-19 vaccines. However, The University of Hong Kong researchers emphasized that the overall benefits of vaccination vastly outweigh the possible risks.
The researchers calculated that those receiving the Sinovac shot were little more likely to develop Bell's palsy than the population receiving Pfizer- BioNTech shot.
The estimated statistics for the occurrence of unilateral facial paralysis was 4.8 cases for every 100,000 people vaccinated for Sinovac and 2 cases per 100,000 people vaccinated for Pfizer-BioNTech.
However, according to the researchers' interpretations, there has been a need for a more detailed study due to the small sample size used to find the association between Bell's Palsy and jabs. Moreover, the beneficial and protective effects of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine far outweigh the risk of this generally self-limiting adverse event.
