Community Blood Center donor eligibility change to go into effect Friday

Previous coverage above: FDA changes blood donation policy

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — The Dayton Community Blood Center is making a change to its donor eligibility screening starting Friday, Sept. 1.

The CBC will adopt the recently updated U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines that remove the decades-old restriction that deferred men who have sex with men from giving blood.

To align with these new guidelines, all donors will answer the same eligibility questions and will be assessed for blood donations only on individual risk factors.

The CBC reported that all donors will be asked if they have had new and/or multiple sexual partners in the past three months, regardless of the donor’s gender or sexual orientation. If they answer yes, they will be asked about the type of sexual contact.

“We want to be inclusive as possible while keeping the blood supply as safe as possible,” said Tracy Morgan, vice president of Donor Services at CBC.

“This change, based on the best science available, means many healthy people who might have been prevented from giving in the past can now be part of our donor family.”

The implementation will continue to defer those with a higher chance of acquiring a new HIV infection, an all CBC blood donations will continue to undergo multiple tests to ensure they are safe for patients.

This won’t be the only change happening Friday. Along with instituting these new guidelines, the CBC will also reveal the new name of the center. After nearly 60 years, the facility will no longer be known as the Community Blood Center and Community Tissue Services.

The new name will be announced at an event at the Center for Tissue Innovation & Research at 11 a.m.