Not all blood services ready to launch new, more-inclusive donor screening

URBANA — Three months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance opening the door for more gay men to donate blood, not all blood services are ready to make the change.

So while the American Red Cross began implementing the updated FDA guidelines Monday, Impact Life, which has blood centers in Urbana and Danville, isn’t quite there yet.

Impact Life expects to make the change by the end of this year, possibly in the fall, according to spokesman Kirby Winn, and will announce the date when it has one to share.

It comes down to updating internal documents and processes and getting all employees trained, Winn said.

“We have to make sure employees on the front line are all clear on the changes before we roll it out for donors,” he said.

The FDA announced May 11 that it had finalized new recommendations for assessing blood donor eligibility based on questions designed to reduce the individual risk of HIV transmitted through blood transfusions.

The new policy shifts the focus of sexual activity questions asked in donor screening from sexual orientation to specific behaviors and eliminates the time-based deferrals and screening questions that were specific to men who have sex with men and women who have sex with men who have sex with men.

Currently, men and women who are potential donors for Impact Life answer different sets of eligibility questions, Winn said.

Under the updated guidance, all male and female prospective donors will answer the same set of individual risk-based questions.

Prospective donors who acknowledge having a new sex partner or more than one sex partner in the past three months, and who also say they have had anal sex in the past three months, will be asked to delay donating blood until three months past their last anal sex contact.

The new guidance also calls for deferring prospective donors currently taking medications to treat or prevent HIV infection.

The Red Cross has been involved in the change for years, providing research and data, Red Cross spokesman Brian Williamsen said.

“While we have no data to indicate the elimination of the FDA’s previous policy will contribute to an increase in blood availability, the Red Cross supports medically and scientifically based eligibility criteria that treats donors with fairness and ensures a safe, sufficient blood supply is readily available for patients in need,” he said.

Winn said Impact Life also supports the change and will have to wait and see the net impact on blood donations, because eligibility may open to some new donors and close for some existing donors.

“I think everyone on our side is hopeful that we may see more donors,” he said.