FDA proposes major shift in blood-donation eligibility guidance

The Food and Drug Administration is signaling a major shift in federal policy on who may donate blood, proposing guidelines that would eliminate the existing time-based blood donation deferrals for men who have sex with men and women who have sex with those individuals. Instead, FDA is proposing that blood donor eligibility would be assessed using gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV. The policy shift is one that AHA has long advocated for, in part due to the significant strain on the nation’s blood supply in the post-COVID-19 pandemic landscape