FDA to make easier for gay and bisexual men to donate blood : Shots - Health News : NPR

Contents:

• MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L
• FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA PROPOS EASG BLOOD DONATN L FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA PAV WAY FOR MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD WH NEW RISK-BASED ASSSMENT
• F.D.A. CONSIRG NEW APPROACH TO BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATN FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA LOOSENS RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN, ENURAG BLOOD DONATNS AMID RONAVIS CRISIS
• FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY
• FDA PLANS TO ALLOW MORE GAY, BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD
• HOW FDA'S FORTHG BLOOD DONOR POLICY CHANGE ULD HELP ADDRS STIGMA ABOUT GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA LNCH STUDY THAT ULD LEAD TO REMOVAL OF RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• THE FDA NSIRS EASG RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN RUL FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN WILL NOW BE ABLE TO DONATE BLOOD UNR FALIZED FDA L

Origally, gay and bisexual men were pletely prohibed om donatg blood.

FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

" In craftg the new guidance, the FDA has been lookg to the rults of a study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men to velop screeng qutns that n intify potential donors who are most likely to be fected wh HIV. So monogamo gay men uld start donatg blood aga sometime 2023. Is movg to ease rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men and other groups that tradnally face higher risks of HIV.

The Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) said Thursday had officially elimated rtrictns that had prevly prohibed many blood donatns by gay and bisexual men — a longstandg policy that crics say is discrimatory.

FDA PROPOS EASG BLOOD DONATN L FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Wh the updated guil, most gay and bisexual men who are a monogamo relatnship wh a man will no longer have to rea om sex orr to donate blood. At first, gay and bisexual men were pletely prohibed om donatg blood. Print and CEO of GLAAD Sarah Kate Ellis echoed that approval a statement, sayg "The FDA's cisn to follow science and issue new remendatns for all Amerins, regardls of sexual orientatn, who selflsly donate blood to help save liv, signals the begng of the end of a dark and discrimatory past rooted fear and homophobia, " However, Ellis said while the new guidance is a step the right directn, there is still a barrier for LGBTQ+ people who are on PrEP, an FDA-approved dg proven to prevent the transmissn of HIV, who may want to donate blood.

S., the Red Cross, along wh One Blood, Valant and partner LGBTQ+ muny health centers, are participatg a pilot study fund by the FDA select ci that uld potentially lead to chang for blood donor eligibily creria for gay and bisexual men.

FDA PAV WAY FOR MORE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD WH NEW RISK-BASED ASSSMENT

The Food and Dg Admistratn has dropped all rtrictns specific to gay and bisexual men donatg blood, a move long anticipated by public health experts and gay rights new guidance, first proposed January and falized Thursday, will not rtrict donatns based on someone's sexual orientatn or genr inty, and stead move towards an "dividual risk-based" approach to rce the risk of accintal HIV fectn through the blood donatn FDA origally banned donatns om gay and bisexual men the midst of the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis.

For example, the HIV epimic has spread far beyond gay and bisexual men, wh women acuntg for roughly 1 5 new HIV diagnos the Uned Stat, acrdg to the most recent CDC data available. Peter Ch-Hong, an fect disease specialist at the Universy of California, San 2015, the FDA relaxed an outright ban on donatns om gay and bisexual men, but the 2015 guidance asked men to absta om sex for at least one year before Thursday's falized guidance, every prospective donor will be asked about their sexual history wh the past three months -- regardls of their sexual orientatn.

""The FDA's cisn to follow science and issue new remendatns for all Amerins, regardls of sexual orientatn, who selflsly donate blood to help save liv, signals the begng of the end of a dark and discrimatory past rooted fear and homophobia, " Sarah Kate Ellis, the print and CEO of GLAAD, said a statement, however, took issue wh one part of the updated remendatn, which urg ferral for anyone takg HIV meditns -- cludg people who are HIV negative who are takg meditns lled PrEP to prevent ferral perd uld ntue to erect barriers to LGBTQ blood donors, she said. The Food and Dg Admistratn on Friday proposed easg blood donatn guil for gay and bisexual current l, the FDA allows donatns om gay and bisexual men if they haven't had sex wh another man for three a draft proposal posted to the agency's webse, the FDA said the new l would allow anyone to donate blood — regardls of genr or sexual orientatn — as long as they haven't engaged certa sexual behavrs the last three months. That would mean most gay and bisexual men who are a monogamo relatnship wh another man will no longer need to absta om sex to donate blood.

F.D.A. CONSIRG NEW APPROACH TO BLOOD DONATN BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

”The agency's rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men stem om the AIDS crisis, which began the early 1980s, when ltle was known about the vis.

Advocy groups and medil anizatns, cludg the Amerin Red Cross, have urged the FDA to lift rtrictns on blood donatns for gay and bisexual men, sayg the practice is discrimatory and has ntributed to shortag the blood supply the Uned Stat. US Food and Dg Admistratn on Thursday paved the way for more gay and bisexual men to donate blood by falizg new risk-based remendatns for blood donatn. Before the FDA began takg a send look at s guidance several years ago, gay and bisexual men had faced a lifetime ban on blood donatn, a move that many said was discrimatory.

Sarah Kate Ellis, Print and CEO of GLAAD, the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, said the new remendatns signal “the begng of the end of a dark and discrimatory past rooted fear and homophobia, ” but argued that by excludg people takg PrEP, they didn’t go far enough.

FDA LIFTS BAN ON BLOOD DONATN FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

2, 2022The Food and Dg Admistratn is nsirg a more dividualized strategy for screeng gay and bisexual men for blood donatn amid an ongog natnal blood shortage, acrdg to an agency official briefed on the F. In 2015, the agency allowed gay and bisexual men to donate if they had not had sexual ntact wh other men for the prev perd was rced to three months after severe blood shortag durg the Covid-19 new plan would require potential donors to fill out a qutnnaire about recent sexual activy, among other risk factors. ”The new approach is meant to strike a balance between activists who want no rtrictns that sgle out gay and bisexual men and blood banks that want to elimate the risk of a recipient acquirg H.

-fund study signed to asss the safety of replacg the current three-month wag perd wh a more dividualized rearchers, who enrolled about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men eight metropolan areas, are hopg to intify a set of screeng qutns that n differentiate men who are more likely to have recently acquired H.

FDA LOOSENS RTRICTNS ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN, ENURAG BLOOD DONATNS AMID RONAVIS CRISIS

Consirs Shift In Blood Donor Policy For Gay or Bisexual Men.

FDA'S REVISED BLOOD DONATN GUIDANCE FOR GAY MEN STILL COURTS CONTROVERSY

The Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) has lifted a s-long ban on sexually active gay and bisexual men om donatg blood, overlg a rtrictn datg back to the 1980s AIDS crisis. Advot have long fought that the l were discrimatory agast sexually active gay and bisexual men.

“It’s a discrimatory policy that assum that HIV is a gay disease, and is very much not, ” GLAAD’s Tony Morrison told NPR. The Food and Dg Admistratn on Thursday said would loosen some of the rtrictns that have blocked gay and bisexual men om donatg agency is changg the remend ferral perd for men who have had sex wh another man om 12 months to three months. Rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men, and other groups nsired to be high risk for HIV or AIDS transmissn, date back to the 1980's.

ET every weekday for special verage of the novel ronavis wh the full ABC News team, cludg the latt news, ntext and FDA said the chang would be implemented immediately and and are expected to rema place after the COVID-19 panmic revised guidance also clus people wh recent tattoos and piercgs and women who have had sex wh a gay or bisexual man; the remend ferral perd is now three months vers 12 Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Blogics Evaluatn and Rearch, said a statement: "Based on recently pleted studi and epimlogic data, we've nclud that the current polici regardg the eligibily of certa donors n be modified whout promisg the safety of the blood supply. Contug to enforce the facto prohibn on blood donatn by sexually active gay and bisexual men do not reflect the bt science available.

FDA PLANS TO ALLOW MORE GAY, BISEXUAL MEN TO DONATE BLOOD

"In the last week Democratic senators and gay rights advocy groups have lled on the feral ernment to loosen the rtrictns, cg the recent blood shortag ed by the COVID-19 outbreak. "This is a victory for all of who raised our llective voic agast the discrimatory ban on gay and bisexual men donatg blood.

We will keep fightg until the ferral perd is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others. The FDA has announced a relaxg of s rtrictns on gay men beg allowed to donate blood, light of the ronavis disease 2019 panmic.

Instead of 1 year, if a male has had sex wh another male, he need only wa 3 months to donate FDA has announced a relaxg of s rtrictns on gay men beg allowed to donate blood, light of the ronavis disease 2019 (COVID-19) panmic. How do they know if a gay man is gay?

HOW FDA'S FORTHG BLOOD DONOR POLICY CHANGE ULD HELP ADDRS STIGMA ABOUT GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Harcup, 43, a gay man who liv Florida.

FDA LNCH STUDY THAT ULD LEAD TO REMOVAL OF RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

And ’s also outrageo to assume that gay men engage more risky sexual behavr than straight men.

The revised policy match that the Uned Kgdom, which 2017 implemented a 3-month ferral policy for gay or bisexual men who want to donate blood technician, now a fns entreprenr and owner of, Alistaire Nzek, 34, of Hightstown, New Jersey, poted out, “The whole reason is bee they thk men who sleep wh men are at a higher risk of gettg HIV, " he said. Jt bee I’m a gay man sleepg wh another men do not make my blood any ls clean. You’re jt as likely to get HIV whether you’re straight or gay.

THE FDA NSIRS EASG RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

Food and Dg Admistratn is nsirg updatg s blood donatn policy, which currently plac some rtrictns on blood donatns om sexually active gay and bisexual a statement, an FDA spokperson said, "While we n't ment on what might be the ntent of the guidance, we n say that the screeng policy we put forward will be genr ntral and science-based.

FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN RUL FOR GAY, BISEXUAL MEN

A ban on gay and bisexual blood donors began durg the HIV/AIDS crisis the 1980s, which primarily affected gay and bisexual men. "If a policy change is implemented, gay and bisexual men monogamo relatnships n donate whout abstag om sex. Activists said the rtrictns are based solely on inty rather than dividual risk bee the ban even appli to gay men who are monogamo, tt HIV negative and practice safe sex.

"There is a perceptn that beg a gay or bisexual person is and of self unsafe, " Sarah Warbelow, the legal director at Human Rights Campaign, told ABC News. "Not every gay man is the same, not every bisexual man is the same, not every straight person is the same, " Halkis add.

"As LGBTQ lears and medil experts have been sayg for years: bans and rtrictns on blood donatns om gay and bisexual men are rooted stigma, not science, " said Sarah Kate Ellis, print and CEO of ntued, "Givg one set of l to some people, and another set of l to others, based purely on inty, is blatant discrimatn. The FDA is sharg new tails on a study 's fundg that uld lead to the removal of longtime rtrictns around blood donatns by gay or bisexual first-of-s-kd pilot study aims to gather and prent data to the FDA for review by late 2021, ABC News has learned exclively. A change this FDA policy would mean that more gay and bisexual men would be able to give blood the U.