NYU Langone’s Vaccine Center will enroll 1,000 people in the COVID-19 clinical trial

Long Island is one of five sites in the region where the new COVID-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will be tested, and authorities will announce it on Wednesday.

NYU Langone’s Vaccine Center aims to enroll 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 85 in Phase 3 of a clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This is part of a large 30,000-person trial of the vaccine being conducted worldwide.

The center has opened a location at NYU Langone Hospital on Long Island, Mineola, with the aim of recruiting locals. The other four locations are in New York City.

Earlier this week, Pfizer released interim results showing that the vaccine is 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infection. The vaccine continues to be reviewed, but the news has boosted the science and medical community.

Dr. Mark Mulligan, Head of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, said: “We are confident that we will need multiple successful vaccines to provide sufficient vaccination across the country and worldwide for those who want to be vaccinated. Director of the Vaccine Center at NYU Langone Health. I also participated in a clinical trial of the -19 vaccine.

Researchers in the AstraZeneca trial are considering enrolling especially those with chronic illnesses, the elderly, races and ethnic minorities, key workers, frontline workers, and healthcare professionals at high risk of contracting COVID-19. doing.

Participants will be given either the vaccine or saline placebo twice at monthly intervals. We will monitor your health for two years after vaccination and cover your travel expenses and holidays.

Susanne Sunday, a retired clinical researcher who grew up in Glenhead and now lives in Bedford, was one of the first participants in the study.

“I feel that it is really important for people to be willing to strengthen and support science. The only way to get out of this turmoil we are currently facing is to vaccinate.”

On Sunday, I received my first dose on Monday at the Vaccine Center at Tisch Hospital in NYU Langone, Manhattan. She said she wasn’t worried about side effects and went through an extensive screening process.

“If there’s anything that worries them that you might react negatively, they’re not going to accept you in the study,” she said.

Mulligan said that based on their history, only participants without previously known COVID-19 infections are enrolled. But he said it was very likely that some volunteers were infected at some point and did not know. They are an important part of the study.

“The CDC estimates that up to 40% of COVID patients are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms and are undiagnosed,” Mulligan said. “When the vaccine is approved and deployed by the FDA, we will be vaccinated against the majority of the population, so we need to test the vaccine with some people who have been infected before. I knew it. “

According to Mulligan, the vaccine is a common cold virus and cannot grow in human cells because it has been modified. It was offered to over 25,000 people in the early stages of the trial. It is located on the surface of the virus and targets spike proteins that latch into cells, he said.

“Spike proteins are excellent targets for neutralizing antibodies and will prevent the virus from entering cells and thus avoid disease,” he said.

He pointed out that other vaccine trials are underway and that the early success of the Pfizer trial was due to community members who have advanced to participate. About 150 people participated in the Pfizer exam.

“Volunteers in these COVID-19 vaccine trials can help determine if the vaccine is defensive, safe, or well tolerated,” he said. “So far, the exam has been very encouraging, but there is still a long way to go.”