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There may be no single solution that will immediately resolve the blood however, ending time-based restrictions to blood donation for gay and bisexual men has the potential to quickly and dramatically increase the number of blood donors while simultaneously putting an end to an antiquated 40-year-old, discriminatory policy. The blood shortage crisis underscores the importance of thoughtful, evidence-based policy that reflects current medical and scientific knowledge. The Red Cross estimates if the deferral period were lifted, an additional 360,000 men would donate blood. The Williams Institute estimates if these restrictions were lifted, the blood supply would increase by 2% to 4%-an average of 345,400 to 615,300 pints of blood annually. It is prudent to shift away from the current time-based blood donor eligibility criteria and toward a risk-based approach that considers current scientific evidence and allows the greatest number of people to donate blood safely. Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns. Gay and bisexual men in the United States are no longer barred from donating blood, under a policy change. Hear from Tennessee's Black voices: Get the weekly newsletter for powerful and critical thinking columns.įurther, this approach not only reinforces a number of stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community and contributes to stigma, but it also fails to acknowledge HIV-risk factors that people who fall outside of this group may have. FDA: Gay, bisexual men can donate blood, but only after a year without sex with men. There is no single intervention that will immediately resolve the blood shortage however, many feel that lifting the restrictions on blood donations for gay and bisexual men is an easily actionable intervention which would address the blood shortage crisis by significantly increasing the number of blood donors.
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The critical shortage of blood across the country has renewed calls from politicians, researchers, health care professionals, and activists for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lift restrictions on gay and bisexual men who wish to donate blood. In recent months the blood shortage has reached critical levels leading the American Red Cross to declare an emergency blood crisis for the first time.
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Kevin Gibas is an Infectious Diseases Doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as well as a Research Fellow with a focus in Health Policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.For those who spent time in certain European countries or on military bases in Europe and were previously considered to have been exposed to a potential risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the agency is eliminating the recommended deferrals.For those who have traveled to malaria-endemic areas or are residents of malaria non-endemic areas the recommended deferral period changed from 12 months to three months. The guidance also permits an alternate procedure that allows for collection of blood from such donors without a deferral period, provided the blood components are pathogen-reduced using an FDA-approved pathogen reduction device.For those with recent tattoos and piercings, the deferral period changed from 12 months to three months.For female donors who engaged in sex with a man who had sex with another man, the deferral period changed from 12 months to 3 months.For male donors who have had sex with another man, the recommended deferral period changed from 12 months to 3 months.The alternatives to eligibility will only last during the duration of the pandemic at this time, the FDA said. "At the FDA, we want to do everything we can to encourage more blood donations, which includes revisiting and updating some of our existing policies to help ensure we have an adequate blood supply, while still protecting the safety of our nation’s blood supply," the FDA said in an announcement.īased on studies and data, the FDA determined that the current policies regarding certain donor eligibility can be modified without compromising the safety of the blood supply. Food and Drug Administration loosened restrictions on blood donation by gay men to help meet the urgent need for blood during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new guidance issued Thursday.