SEATTLE — A groundbreaking shift is happening in the world of blood donations that could help firm up supplies both in Washington and across the country.
For the first time, men with same-sex partners will not face restrictions for donating blood, with the new guidelines taking effect on Wednesday. Bloodworks Northwest (BWNW) marked the occasion with one of the first men now eligible to donate.
For decades, restrictions kept men with same-sex partners from donating blood, even though blood banks like BWNW has spoken out for years on the need for more donors and more blood. Starting this week, the Food and Drug Administration has updated its guidance and now those men can donate.
This opens the door for people like Seattle-area resident John Rubino, who is now an eligible blood donor for the first time in his life.
“I’ve never donated before,” he said. “I’ve actually been giving blood for research because I wasn’t allowed to donate.”
Rubino was hoping to bring some “new blood” to Bloodworks Northwest on Wednesday, but could not donate on the first day of eligibility because of levels in his blood. Even so, he admitted that even walking in to donate is groundbreaking. He’ll also still be able to come back at a later date.
“This to me just feels like that history that I have is just being lifted off of my back,” he said, describing how not being able to donate up until now had been a “frustrating and discriminatory” experience.
The ban on blood donations from gay men started in 1985 during the AIDS crisis. In 2015, the guidelines were changed to require that gay men abstain from sex for 12 months. That number was reduced to three months in 2020, before the FDA put out its new rules in January of 2023.
Under the new guidelines, anyone interested in donating -- regardless of sexuality -- will be screened for a variety of risk factors linked to HIV, including whether someone has a new sexual partner or more than one in the preceding three months.
That has Bloodworks Northwest’s primary blood supplier asking for donors from a community that in the past was disqualified or deferred.
Kirsten Alcorn is the Medical Director for Blood Donor Services at Bloodworks Northwest, and she admits that getting a new pool of donors is a welcome development.
“Anytime we can expand our donor base we can save more lives,” she said. “What we always worry about is there could come a time completely unpredictably where the need for blood could be higher than the supply.”
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