NYU Langone accepting volunteers for clinical COVID-19 vaccine trial

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is testing the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 experimental vaccine.

News 12 Staff

Nov 12, 2020, 12:17 AM

Updated 1,433 days ago

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As the search for a cure continues, another COVID-19 vaccine trial is still looking for volunteers at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island.
Suzanne Sunday is a retired scientist who had been trying to volunteer in a COVID-19 vaccine trial, but hadn't been accepted into one until recently. The Long Island woman who now lives in Westchester is one of the first to take part in the NYU Langone trial.
"I think it's really important for people who are basically healthy to step up and participate because we need these answers," says Sunday. "We're not going to get out of this mess until we really understand how to fight it and science is clearly the answer."
The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is testing the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 experimental vaccine.
Dr. Steven Carsons says this vaccine uses a weakened chimpanzee common cold virus that can't multiply in humans.
"It is genetically engineered to express the spike protein, which is that thing we commonly see in diagrams of the COVID virus," says Stevens. "And this enables people to produce an immune or an antibody response against this virus."
Enrollment in the two-year trial began last week. Researchers are looking for up to 40,000 volunteers -- specifically people who are at a higher risk of getting the virus and those who are at a high risk of having a severe case of it.
Each person will get two doses of either the experimental vaccine or the placebo.