However, the FDA did not end the discriminatory, irrational, and non-science-based ban. Particularly given the blood shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us were heartened that the FDA revisited its ban. I appreciate that the FDA is listening to the public and scientists who have long questioned the scientific validity of the FDA’s severe restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood. Yet, due to the FDA’s discriminatory policy, a large pool of potential donors - gay and bisexual men who have not been celibate for three months - are banned from donating plasma to save lives, thus undermining the fight against COVID-19. I write regarding the FDA’s recent adjustment to its policy prohibiting blood donations from gay and bisexual men, and also to raise the critical additional issue of gay and bisexual men who have now survived COVID-19 yet cannot donate plasma to help those with life-threatening COVID-19 infections.Īs you know, convalescent plasma is being investigated as a potentially life-saving treatment for those suffering from serious COVID-19 infections. Re: FDA’s Effective Ban on Plasma Donation by Gay and Bisexual Men It’s time to lift this ban entirely and allow gay and bi men to donate both blood and post-COVID-infection plasma.” The FDA needs to start making these decisions based on modern science, not on stereotypes from the 1980s. It makes no sense to ban a huge number of healthy gay and bi men from donating their plasma to save lives. “So many people are suffering from severe COVID-19 infections - with far too many dying - and we need to do everything in our power to provide patients with potential life-saving treatments. Yet, the FDA applies the same irrational, discriminatory ban on gay and bisexual men donating plasma, thus reducing the supply of usable plasma for treatment of people who are at risk of dying. A promising new treatment for these infections is convalescent plasma - plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19. While three months is less severe than a year, the celibacy requirement still has no basis in science and continues to discriminate and deprive the nation’s blood supply of much-needed donations.Īpart from the need for more blood donations in general, the FDA ban directly harms people suffering from severe COVID-19 infections. In response, the FDA reduced the required celibacy period for gay and bisexual from from a year to three months.
Senator Wiener wrote a letter to the FDA last week asking the agency to end the blood donation ban, and other leaders urged the FDA to reverse its policy as well. Moreover, there is no scientific basis for imposing a three month celibacy period, given the accuracy of modern HIV testing technology. The FDA does not apply that celibacy requirement - which effectively screens out a large majority of gay and bisexual men - to straight people who are sexually active.
Despite that potential, the FDA continues to ban gay and bisexual men from donating blood or plasma, unless they have been celibate for three months. Convalescent plasma is currently being investigated as a potentially life-saving treatment for those suffering from severe COVID-19 infections. San Francisco - Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking them to allow gay and bisexual men who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma.