VERIFY: Yes, text message offering to get paid to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trial is real – KHOU.com

The text reads, Interested in a paid COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial? Theres a telephone number and email to contact someone at Centex Studies.

HOUSTON Theres a text message going around asking people if they are interested in getting paid to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine trial. Someone thought it sounded too good to be true. So, they asked the VERIFY team to check it out.

The text reads, Interested in a paid COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial? Theres a telephone number and email to contact someone at Centex Studies.

Our source for this is Dr. Joe Pouzar, principal investigator at Centex Studies, a clinical research network in Texas and Louisiana that conducts clinical trials on various conditions including Alzheimer's, diabetes, endometriosis and most recently, the COVID-19 vaccine. He tells the VERIFY team, the company is reaching out to potential participants through text message.

That's one of many ways that we're recruiting for the trial. We have a presence on Facebook and other social media as well, Dr. Pouzar said.

Dr. Pouzar says Centex Studies is looking for several hundred people in the Houston area to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine trial sponsored by Janssen, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson.

It's two injections. They're spaced roughly two months apart. Then, there's ongoing follow up for any side effects, and also for overall effectiveness and antibody levels. That goes on about two years after the start of the clinical trial, Dr. Pouzar said.

Participants will be paid $100 per visit. Centex Studies says they began recruiting through text in November.

I can't think of anything that would be more important right now in the field of medicine than combating this particular pandemic, Dr. Pouzar said.

So, we can VERIFY the text message is legit.

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VERIFY: Yes, text message offering to get paid to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trial is real - KHOU.com