Scientists have long argued that the blood donation restrictions are discriminatory and unscientific. Now, eligibility will be determined using individual, risk-based questions regardless of gender or sexual orientation
Lukas Pietrzak first donated blood in 2013, when he was a high school student. The cause mattered to him because two units of donated blood had kept this father alive in the immediate aftermath of a cycling accident. They shared the same blood type, and if anything were to happen to his father again or to someone else, he wanted the chance to save their life too. But when Pietrzak participated in another blood donation drive later that same school year, it would be his last.
For years, activists and scientists have been advocating for revised blood donation rules linked to HIV transmission concerns and on May 11 the FDAIn 2015, the federal agency updated its policy to allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood, but only if they hadn’t had sex with another man for at least a year. In 2020, amid major blood shortages in the pandemic, the federal agency shortened that period to three months.
Over the years, Pietrzak grew resentful of the FDA rules. “They were excluding a group of otherwise eligible volunteers who wanted to give blood and basically saying because of who you are and who you’re with, we don’t want your blood,” he says.that commenced in 2021 and considered whether donors could be assessed based on their individual HIV risks rather than sexual identity. “I’m hopeful this is a step toward an equitable blood donation policy,” Pietrzak says.
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