Have you seen any signs soliciting COVID-19 patients to help "test the validity" of the vaccine?  Experts say it's a scam.

Wood TV 8 reports that flyers have been seen in West Michigan from a person claiming to be part of the Moderna vaccine trial out of Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit.

The signs read:

"I am looking for anyone who is infected or believes to be infected with coronavirus. I have entered into a covid-19 vaccine trial to test the validity of the vaccine. This is phase III testing. Due to ethical constants [sic] they will not directly expose me to the virus. So I would like to find a way to be in the vicinity of the virus to see if I can become infected. If I am exposed to the virus by coming in contact with someone who is infected I will then get tested directly after to see if I contracted the virus, thus testing if the vaccine is effective."

Wood TV 8 reached out to the contact listed on the flyers. A person calling himself Colin, who would not give a last name, replied via text:

“Yes. I took this endeavor on myself and it was never discussed or is supported by Henry Ford Health... I am part of the vaccine trial and am trying to do my part to contribute. But this is not something that is anybody else’s idea but mine."

He denies that it's a scam.

Henry Ford Health Systems said in a statement to Wood TV 8,

“The note soliciting contact with someone infected with COVID-19 has surfaced previously in a different location. Henry Ford and Moderna have investigated the origins of this note and have found it to be fraudulent. No one should ever knowingly expose themselves to COVID-19, nor should someone diagnosed with active COVID-19 expose others to this dangerous virus.”

The Kent County Health Department has also received reports about the flyers.

Steve Kelso with the Kent County Health Department tells Wood TV 8,

“I don’t know what the end means of it are, but there’s so many ethical considerations that go into clinical trials, there’s just no way to think that any part of this is real.”

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