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Folks vaccinated with a licensed or accredited COVID-19 vaccine can donate blood instantly after receiving a shot in the event that they’re feeling nicely. Social media posts distort a query from the American Purple Cross to baselessly declare the vaccines are unsafe.
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Practically two years after associated claims about COVID-19 vaccination and blood donation first surfaced, posts on social media are actually pointing to a blood donation screening query to falsely recommend the vaccines are unsafe.
A number of Feb. 20 posts shared a screenshot of a query included in RapidPass, a pre-donation device the American Purple Cross makes use of to streamline the blood donation course of. The query asks if an individual has “EVER had a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.” Those that reply “sure” are advised to name the Purple Cross “to find out if this may have an effect on” their eligibility to donate. The posts incorrectly suggest the query is new and will imply the vaccines will not be protected.
“American Purple Cross tacitly admits the COVID vaccines will not be protected. Lastly,” Steve Kirsch, a widely known misinformation spreader, wrote on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter, sharing one such submit (emphasis is his).
“COVID Vaxxed Could Be Ineligible To Give Blood, Says Purple Cross,” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones falsely claimed on X.
A Purple Cross spokesperson advised us that exact query shouldn’t be new and has been a part of the method “since across the time when COVID vaccines had been made obtainable to the general public.”
The query is requested to make sure the Purple Cross is following recommendation from the Meals and Drug Administration, which recommends a ready interval if somebody has obtained a stay attenuated COVID-19 vaccine. Exterior of scientific trials, there are not any such vaccines, which use stay however weakened viruses, presently in use.
In a separate query, the Purple Cross RapidPass screening device asks potential donors if they’ve obtained any vaccination within the final eight weeks. Those that reply “sure” are requested to name the Purple Cross to find out eligibility, though a word particularly states: “The FLU and COVID-19 vaccine are acceptable so long as you haven’t any signs on the day of donation.”
A joint assertion issued final yr by the Affiliation for the Development of Blood & Biotherapies, America’s Blood Facilities and the Purple Cross in response to comparable misinformation defined that blood donations from individuals “who’ve obtained a COVID-19 vaccine accredited or approved to be used within the U.S. are protected for transfusion.” So long as persons are feeling nicely, these people are eligible to donate blood instantly after receiving a shot.
“[T]right here is not any scientific proof that demonstrates hostile outcomes from the transfusions of blood merchandise collected from vaccinated donors and, due to this fact, no medical motive to differentiate or separate blood donations from people who’ve obtained a COVID-19 vaccination,” reads the joint assertion.
But, at the very least one different social media submit can also be utilizing the RapidPass query to falsely suggest that the Purple Cross labels and separates blood relying on vaccination standing. An AABB spokesperson advised us all blood donations bear the identical security testing and processing and famous that the FDA not too long ago clarified as soon as once more that blood assortment amenities such because the Purple Cross shouldn’t label blood donations based mostly on vaccination standing. In a response to AABB, the FDA stated that there’s “no validated technique or check to find out whether or not a donor obtained an mRNA vaccine.”
On Feb. 23, the Purple Cross reiterated in a information story on its web site that “receiving a COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t make you ineligible to donate blood and blood donations from those that have been vaccinated for COVID-19 are protected for transfusion.”
Ready Interval for Blood Donation Widespread After Dwell Attenuated Vaccines
The Purple Cross and different blood collectors ask potential donors about vaccination historical past due to the ready time required after vaccination with some stay attenuated vaccines, which comprise a stay however weakened model of a virus or bacterium that causes illness. This consists of, for instance, a four-week watch for blood donation following the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. The AABB explains that’s “[b]ecause there’s a danger of passing vaccine virus to others” with sure stay attenuated vaccines.
As we stated, there’s no deferral time for many who obtained any of the COVID-19 vaccines ever accredited or approved by the FDA — that’s, these manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson or Novavax. But when potential blood donors don’t know which vaccine they obtained, they’re requested to attend for 14 days after their final shot earlier than they’ll donate blood. That’s as a result of the FDA advises blood institutions to contemplate “whether it is attainable that the person obtained a live-attenuated viral vaccine.”
Daniel Parra, a Purple Cross spokesperson, advised us the query shared in social media is included in RapidPass “to make sure that we’re following FDA tips to the furthest extent attainable.” The one follow-up query a possible vaccinated donor will obtain when calling the Purple Cross is which vaccine they obtained, he wrote.
“If it’s one of many FDA-approved vaccines, and the donor is feeling nicely on the time of the appointment, then they’re instantly eligible to donate. If they don’t bear in mind the identify of the producer, they are going to be requested to attend two weeks to donate (per FDA tips). Nevertheless, if greater than two weeks have handed since their final COVID vaccination, the query is moot,” he wrote in an electronic mail.
At the moment, there are not any stay attenuated COVID-19 vaccines approved or accredited by the FDA or by the World Well being Group. However a number of vaccine candidates which can be stay attenuated vaccines, most of them nasal sprays, are being evaluated in scientific trials and preclinical research. By getting into the physique by way of the nostril or mouth, mucosal vaccines might present higher safety in opposition to an infection than injected vaccines and extra successfully scale back viral transmission.
One of many candidates, CoviLiv, was beforehand evaluated in a section 1 scientific trial carried out within the U.Okay. The vaccine is being assessed in a big section 3 trial coordinated by the WHO. The builders of the vaccine, the U.S.-based firm Codagenix and the Serum Institute of India, hope to submit the vaccine to the FDA for assessment in 2024.
Editor’s word: SciCheck’s articles offering correct well being data and correcting well being misinformation are made attainable by a grant from the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis. The inspiration has no management over FactCheck.org’s editorial selections, and the views expressed in our articles don’t essentially replicate the views of the muse.
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