AstraZeneca is now the latest pharmaceutical company to say its COVID-19 vaccine is showing promising results, and part of this study is taking place right in our backyard.

A new clinical trial is currently underway at NYU Langone Hospital Brooklyn’s brand-new vaccine center for AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

News 12’s cameras were present when Edwin Ruiz joined a growing number of volunteers in receiving his first injection--aimed at ending the coronavirus pandemic.

This happened just hours after the pharmaceutical company reported a 70% average effectiveness in preventing the virus, based on overseas studies. In some cases, with certain doses, that number jumps up to 90%.

Dr. Stephanie Sterling is a co-leader of the newly opened vaccine center on NYU’s Sunset Park campus, where participants are signing up to get two shots a month apart and check in at various points over two years.

Vials at the center contained blood that was drawn from study participants, but neither the participants nor NYU knows whether they’ve been given the vaccine or the placebo.

This is what makes it a randomized, controlled and double-blind study. Dr. Sterling calls it the gold standard.

The vaccine, based on using the COVID spike protein to prompt a response from the immune system, is cheaper and easier to store than some of the others in development.

NYU Langone is looking to enroll more than 1,200 participants in the clinical trial at five different sites across New York.