Community Blood Bank to change donor policy for gay, bisexual men

More gay and bisexual men will be allowed to give blood at the Community Blood Bank, 2646 Peach St., under a new policy expected to take effect in early December.

Instead of requiring gay and bisexual men to abstain from sex for at least three months before donating, the new policy would defer any donor who has had anal sex with new or multiple partners during that time.

It comes after the Food & Drug Administration, which sets the requirements and procedures for blood banks throughout the country, updated its policy in May. The American Red Cross, the world’s largest supplier of blood and blood products, implemented its new policy in August.

“We are in the process right now of creating our new policy,” said Deanna Rosenthal, Community Blood Bank’s executive director. “We are writing the new (standard operating procedures), updating our software and training staff. Then we have to get everything submitted and approved by the FDA.”

Allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood has been an issue since the early 1980s when HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was passed to people through tainted blood transfusions.

The FDA at first implemented a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who had sex with other men since 1977.

It replaced the lifetime ban in 2015 with a one-year abstinence requirement, which was then shortened to three months during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic when donations plummeted.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Alex Sphon, president of the NWPA Pride Alliance. “It’s great that the policies are finally catching up with the science.”

More:Gay, bisexual men in monogamous relationships can donate blood under new FDA policy

Testing for HIV is more precise than it was during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and the disease itself is more treatable. People infected with HIV still are not permitted to donate blood, according to the FDA.

It also comes at a time when Community Blood Bank, like others across the country, is struggling to recruit enough donors to meet the demand for blood products. The Erie blood bank, which supplies blood products to 19 area hospitals, often is at critically low levels of certain blood types.

“We would love to think it will help immediately,” Rosenthal said. “But we will have to wait and see. (The policy) has been so restrictive, it will take time to build relationships.”

Obstacle still remains for many potential blood donors

The most significant obstacle to receiving more blood donations from gay and bisexual men could be PrEP, a medication taken to prevent HIV infection.

People who take PrEP will continue to be medically ineligible to donate for three months after their last oral dose or a year after their last injection.

It’s because the medication keeps HIV viral loads low enough that they can’t be detected through testing, but those loads could be high enough to cause infection during a transfusion of a large volume of blood, according to the FDA.

“I have been on PrEP for four years, just to protect myself,” Sphon said. “I’m disappointed that I can’t donate and I’m not the only person I know in this situation.”

The Associated Press and USA Today contributed to this article.

Contact David Bruce at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ETNBruce.