FDA announces it will ease blood donation restrictions on gay and bisexual men, including allowing those in monogamous relationships to donate.
In this March 23, 2021 file photo Phlebotomist Adel Velasco prepares a blood donation at a Red Cross blood drive with L.A. Care Health Plan in Los Angeles.The U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationFriday it will ease blood donation restrictions on gay and bisexual men, including allowing those in monogamous relationships to donate.
Rather than a blanket ban due to sexual orientation, the relaxation of the rule would screen potential donors on their risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. For the first time, the proposal will also affect women who engage in intercourse with men who have sex with men. In 1985, in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, the FDA banned all blood donations from men who have sex with men.The policy did not change until 2015, when rules were slightly relaxed to allow this group of donors to give blood as long as they abstained from sex for one year. In 2020, amid severe blood shortages during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA shortened the abstinence period to 90 days.
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