The FDA provides details on how COVID-19 infection or vaccination against the virus affects a waiting period to donate. Please share the information with your patients.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued on February 20, 2021, updated information for establishments that oversee blood donation.
The update stresses that there have been no reported cases of transfusion-transmitted SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide, and that respiratory viruses, in general, are not known to be transmitted this way.
"We need people to start turning out in full force to give blood," said Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). The concern stems from the increased variability the Red Cross has seen in blood donation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as fear about virus spread keeps people from wanting to engage in the process of donating.
The information on if and when blood can be donated by persons who have been infected with COVID-19 or have been vaccinated against the virus could be valuable for physicians to share with patients. The Red Cross encourages educating the public. The FDA explains, below.