Research says benefits of continuing immunization of front-line workers in BC with AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh risks Amidst the continued surge of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), vaccination efforts continue to mitigate the spread of the virus. Vaccination rollouts have commenced in many countries. One of the vaccines approved via an emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the University of Oxford's AstraZeneca COVID-19 ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 SARS-CoV-2 viral vector vaccine. As countries started using the vaccines, reports surfaced of rare instances of blood clots, with low platelets detected in some individuals inoculated with the vaccine.