A nurse fills test tubes with blood to be tested on the American Red Cross blood drive in Fullerton, California, Thursday, January 20, 2022.
Paul Bersebach | Medianews Group | Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration proposed recent guidelines on Friday that would now not require gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships to abstain from sex before donating blood.
The FDA imposed a lifetime ban on having sex with men who donated blood through the AIDS crisis of the Nineteen Eighties. The agency relaxed the ban in 2015, allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood in the event that they had not had sex in the previous 12 months.
In response to the shortage of blood donors through the Covid pandemic, the FDA further eased restrictions in April 2020 to allow gay and bisexual men who haven’t had sex in the previous three months to donate blood.
Under guidelines proposed on Friday, gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships will likely be allowed to donate blood. Nevertheless, people of any gender or sexual orientation who had recently had anal sex with a recent or multiple partners would have to wait three months before donating blood.
“Maintaining a secure and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S. is of paramount importance to the FDA, and this proposal for individual risk assessment, no matter gender or sexual orientation, will enable us to proceed to apply the most effective science to this end,” he said. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf on Friday. The Washington Post reported on it earlier.
The American Medical Association has criticized the FDA’s restrictions on gay blood donation as discriminatory.
“What’s at issue is the necessity to evaluate all potential blood donors on an equal basis based on their individual risk aspects and no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Dr. Gerald Harmon of the AMA in January 2022.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights advocacy group, said the FDA’s proposal is a step in the precise direction, but more needs to be done to remove the restrictions.
“We urge the Biden administration to prioritize removing remaining barriers and ask the FDA to act quickly while ensuring secure blood supplies and a science-based blood donation policy,” HRC president Kelley Robinson said in an announcement.
People taking oral anti-HIV medicines won’t be allowed to donate blood for 3 months after taking their last dose. People receiving injections to prevent HIV infection won’t find a way to donate blood for 2 years after their last injection.
These drugs, called pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, could cause false-negative HIV test results, according to the FDA.
Under the proposed FDA policy, anyone who tested positive for HIV or was taking medication to treat HIV infection would be barred from donating blood. Individuals who had recently engaged in sex or used illegal intravenous drugs would have to wait three months to change into a donor.
According to the FDA, blood banks would still be required to test all donors for HIV and hepatitis C and B.
Dr. Peter Marks, a senior official on the FDA, said the agency is evaluating the science to increase the number of individuals eligible to donate blood while maintaining safeguards to ensure the security of supplies to recipients.
“We are going to proceed to follow the most effective scientific evidence available to maintain an adequate blood supply and minimize the chance of infectious disease transmission, and are committed to finalizing the draft guidelines as soon as possible,” Marks said on Friday.