(WHDH) — The Food and Drug Administration relaxed its guidelines on who can donate blood amid a shortage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The FDA revised its donor eligibility deferral period from 12 months to three months for men who had sex with another man, women who had sex with a man who had sex with another man, and those who recently got tattoos and piercings.
This comes after the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD created a petition, calling for the FDA to change its guidelines.
“After weeks of pressure from GLAAD and others, the FDA is lowering the deferral period on men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months,” the petition reads. “This victory, however, remains imperfect. We’ll keep pushing for the ban to be lifted entirely.”
The FDA had said the blood donation policy was an attempt to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. They determined that based on recently completed studies and epidemiologic data, current policies regarding certain donor eligibility criteria could be modified without compromising the safety of the blood supply.
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