Bay State health officials are urging the feds to change the “discriminatory” policy that effectively bans gay and bisexual men from donating blood as the nation faces its worst blood shortage in a decade.
The top Massachusetts health officials have signed on to a letter to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, calling on the FDA to nix its 90-day blood donor deferral policy for men who have sex with other men.
Banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood began at the start of the HIV epidemic about 40 years ago.
“There is no credible evidence that the 90-day MSM (men who have sex with men) blood donation deferral period improves the safety of the nation’s blood donation supply,” North Carolina health officials, with the backing of Massachusetts and other states, wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
“And therefore, the continuation of this policy serves only to further stigmatize an already marginalized demographic group and unnecessarily restricts the eligible donor population during a time of extraordinary need in the US,” the health officials added. “The current policy is ineffective, unnecessary, and discriminatory.”
The Bay State officials who signed on to the letter were Marylou Sudders, secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke.
Other states supporting North Carolina’s letter were Connecticut, New York, California, Oregon, Nevada, Minnesota and Kentucky. The director of the D.C. Department of Health also signed on.
“In the 40 years since the start of the U.S. HIV epidemic, there have been incredible advancements in both the development of highly sensitive HIV diagnostic platforms and our scientific understanding of HIV transmission,” the health officials wrote. “The FDA requires that all blood donations undergo nucleic acid testing for HIV, a test which can detect HIV within two weeks following infection.
“Consequently, the risk of HIV-infected blood entering donation pools is negligible,” they added. “This diagnostic screening should be paired with an individual risk-based assessment based on our robust knowledge of how HIV is transmitted, and not discriminatorily applied to an entire group of individuals.”
The American Medical Association has also urged the FDA to remove its 90-day blood donor deferral policy for men who have sex with other men.
Amid the nationwide blood shortage, donations are crucial for the blood supply to rebound, according to the Department of Public Health.
To donate, people are urged to contact their local hospital blood donor center or visit redcrossblood.org.
