FDA relaxes guidelines to allow gay, bisexual men to donate blood

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – More people can now roll up their sleeves and donate blood. After the FDA put out new guidelines, blood banks can now expand donor eligibility to include more people from the LGBTQ community. Before this change, there were stricter guidelines for gay and bisexual men who wanted to donate.

Before these changes, gay or bisexual men could not donate blood if they had sex with another man within the last three months. Now under these new guidelines, every donor, regardless of sexual orientation, will have to meet the same criteria and answer the same set of questions before they can donate.

Michael McFall is part of the LGBTQ community. He is excited that he can now give back the way others do.

“I can finally do something to help somebody. Maybe safe a life you don’t know,” McFall said. “There was a lot of us that couldn’t donate, and that made us feel like we didn’t exist.”

“It’s going to allow for a more inclusive donor pool,” Georgi Donchetz with the American Red Cross said.

They are now accepting donations from more gay or bisexual men. Under the FDA’s new guidelines, everyone will undergo a uniform screening process. Donors will answer the same questions regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

“Every donor, before they donate blood, has to go through a health history,” Donchetz said. “They will ask questions about have you traveled and what medications you are on.”

It will also ask about sexual activity. The original restrictions date back to the 1980s when gay and bisexual men couldn’t donate at all, designed to protect the blood supply from HIV. In 2015 that rule was dropped to a one-year abstinence requirement. Then in 2020, it was shortened to three months.

And now, the FDA says this updated policy is based on the best available scientific evidence and aligns with policies in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada. Blood banks also routinely screen donated blood for HIV.

“We have been a part of the advanced study, and this has been going on for ten-plus years, so we have known the FDA was working on this, but safety is the number one thing, so they wanted to make sure they had all the research correct,” Donchetz said.

Vitalant, a blood bank that provides blood to every hospital in Maricopa County, says they applaud this effort.

“Vitalant is working on making donor eligibility updates and hopes to implement them later this summer, as soon as donation materials and computer systems can be updated and staff are trained.”

“If I can help save a life, a brother, sister, anyone, a neighbor, it makes you feel like you’re with it,” McFall said.

The FDA says if you have taken a drug to prevent an HIV infection, you’re asked to wait to donate blood. This waiting process is due to these drugs altering the detectability of HIV in screening tests. Also, those who have had anal sex with a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner, would be asked to wait to donate blood within the last three months.

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