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 BAN ON GAY MEN AS BLOOD DONORS OPPOSED BY AMERIN MEDIL ASSOCIATN
• THE FDA NSIRS EASG RTRICTNS ON BLOOD DONATNS BY GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• FDA PROPOS ALLOWG GAY AND BISEXUAL MONOGAMO MEN TO DONATE BLOOD
• FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AFTER YEARS OF PROTT
• FDA MOV TO EASE L FOR BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY MEN
• HOW FDA'S FORTHG BLOOD DONOR POLICY CHANGE ULD HELP ADDRS STIGMA ABOUT GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN
• AMA WEIGHS IN AS FDA QUTNS: CAN GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD?

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

Wh the natn’s blood supply at s lowt pot a , and the Amerin Red Cross clarg s first-ever natnal blood crisis earlier this month, is time for the Food and Dg Admistratn (FDA) to do somethg the AMA and others have urged for years: remove s discrimatory ban that prevents many gay and bisexual men om beg blood donors.

FDA DROPS BLOOD DONATN RTRICTNS SPECIFIC TO GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

The existg ban requir gay or bisexual men to absta om sex for a mimum of three months before they n donate blood. The roots of limatns agast gay and bisexual blood donors date back to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s. 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.

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.

FDA BAN ON GAY MEN AS BLOOD DONORS OPPOSED BY AMERIN MEDIL ASSOCIATN

For the first time four s, gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood Utah. Durg a prs nference Wednday afternoon, ARUP Blood Servic ma the announcement, makg the first donor center the state to accept donatns om the gay muny.

“The are excg chang to the guil that have historilly impacted gay and bisexual men for four s.”.

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

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.

FDA PROPOS ALLOWG GAY AND BISEXUAL MONOGAMO MEN TO DONATE BLOOD

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.

FDA EAS BLOOD DONATN BAN ON GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN AFTER YEARS OF PROTT

Food and Dg Admistratn, which prohibs gay men om donatg FDA ban origated 1983 rponse to the AIDS outbreak, when ltle was known about the vis and gay men were more likely to have ntracted the vis. "The AMA remends that the FDA change s policy so that gay men are evaluated on an dividual level rather than beg lumped together a high-risk tegory, addn to craftg a policy that more accurately reprents scientific Valaz, policy analyst for the HIV/AIDS advocy group Gay Men's Health Crisis, said the ban was outdated light of medil advanc that n tect HIV donated blood nearly all blood donatns. In untri such as Canada, the Uned Kgdom and Atralia, gay men are allowed to donate blood if they have abstaed om sex wh a man for a certa perd of time.

"Acrdg to the FDA webse, gay men reprent 61 percent of all new HIV fectns the U.

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

FDA MOV TO EASE L FOR BLOOD DONATNS OM GAY 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. The FDA nsirs easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men The Food and Dg Admistratn is likely to propose easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men.

The FDA nsirs easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men. The Food and Dg Admistratn is likely to propose easg rtrictns on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men.

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

Origally, gay and bisexual men were pletely prohibed om donatg blood out of fears they would ntamate the blood supply wh HIV. In 2015, the FDA lifted the total ban on blood donatns by gay and bisexual men and stead said they uld donate as long as they hadn't had sexual ntact wh other men for at least a year. This qutnnaire would be based on the rults of a study of about 1, 600 gay and bisexual men that was signed to velop a set of screeng qutns that would intify potential donors who are most likely to be fected wh HIV.

Here's Tony Morrison om the group GLAAD, which has long cricized the current MORRISON: It's a discrimatory policy that assum that HIV is a gay disease, and is very much not. Food and Dg Admistratn announced Friday will ease blood donatn rtrictns on gay and bisexual men, cludg allowg those monogamo relatnships to policy change, which was revealed new draft guidance, after years of urgg by public health experts, blood banks and LGBTQ advocy groups.

AMA WEIGHS IN AS FDA QUTNS: CAN GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD?

The new policy would addrs future blood shortag and remove the stigma around gay men, experts say. In 2020, amid severe blood shortag durg the start of the COVID-19 panmic, the FDA shortened the abstence perd to 90 policy change means gay and bisexual men monogamo relatnships n donate whout abstag om sex as long as they tt HIV negative and are practicg safe also means the U. Gay and bisexual men monogamo relatnships will no longer be forced to absta om sex to donate blood unr feral guil announced Friday, endg a vtige of the earlit days of the AIDS proposed relaxatn of rtrictns by the Food and Dg Admistratn follows years of prsure by blood banks, the Amerin Medil Associatn and LGBT rights anizatns to abandon l some experts say are outdated, homophobic and effective at keepg the natn’s blood supply new approach elimat l that target men who have sex wh men and stead foc on sexual behavrs by people, regardls of genr, that pose a higher risk of ntractg and transmtg HIV.

”Other untri cludg Canada and the Uned Kgdom have ma siar chang recent s, gay men said they were ma to feel like pariahs as they were barred om performg a wily ld act of muny service, siled om jog iends and fay givg blood after natnal disasters. ”Technologil advancements blood screeng and a new FDA-fund study backg the proposed approach renred sweepg prohibns on sexually active gay and bisexual men moot, some experts said. Newly eligible donors probably would not be able to give blood until the end of the year or early next year while the FDA faliz chang and blood banks implement activists say gay men would still be treated unfairly unr the proposed guil, which would allow them to give blood if they had not had a new anal sexual partner the prr three is no exceptn for people takg daily pills that drastilly rce the risk of ntractg HIV, a landmark advancement that revolutnized preventn whout relyg on ndoms or abstence alone, bee the meditn n terfere wh the abily of screeng tts to tect HIV.

“Beg monogamo wh someone who is not livg wh HIV is not the only way to prevent transmissn, ” said Jason Cianctto, vice print for munitns and public policy at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a group that has advoted to end the blood donatn the AIDS epimic emerged the 1980s, thoands of people who received blood transfns beme fected before scientists realized that the HIV vis that ed the disease uld be transmted by FDA placed rtrictns on blood donatns by gay men, who had higher rat of HIV fectn bee the vis spreads more easily smaller sexual works and more efficiently durg anal sex than vagal sex.

”The FDA fund a study nducted between December 2020 and September 2022 by three of the natn’s largt nonprof blood centers — Valant, OneBlood and the Amerin Red Cross — to exame whether there are qutns provirs uld ask sexually active gay and bisexual men to terme a person’s risk donatg Cter, director of the Valant Rearch Instute and the study’s prcipal vtigator, cled to share the rults whout FDA approval but characterized them as promisg.

“We are a very challengg time for the blood supply, ” Fry ’s unclear how much the new l would expand the blood supply, which would require a ncerted outreach mpaign to rm gay and bisexual men acctomed to be beg banned that they might now be eligible to crics say a three-month wag perd, mirrorg other Wtern untri, is still overly strgent bee of advancements ttg that allow for HIV to be tected Hoylman-Sigal, an openly gay Democratic senator the New York legislature, said any ferral “ntu to foster stigma around men who have sex wh men. ”“They need to pletely get rid of any semblance of rtrictns on gay men donatg blood, ” Hoylman-Sigal reason for the three-month ferral perd, acrdg to Khanlwal Canada, is that ttg for blood-borne vis, which clu hepatis B and C as well as HIV, “is not perfect.