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In a 9-6 vote, the HHS Committee on Blood Safety and Availability voted against a change to the current policy banning blood donations from men who have had sex with men. Extremely disappointing. However, in a 14-0 vote, the Committee called the policy "sub-optimal" and to submit a report to the Assistant Secretary of HHS that seeks to distinguish between low and high-risk MSM donors. Low-risk would be, for example, HIV-negative gay couples in long-term monogamous relationships, or individuals who are always careful to use protection and not put oneself at risk for infection. Allowing such individuals to donate would improve the nation's chronic blood shortages and also follow the lead of countries like Spain, France and Italy, which distinguish based on risk rather than a blanket ban on an entire community.
A mixed bag, to me. On the one hand, the vote against lifting the ban is disappointing, and this does kick the can down the road a bit. On the other hand, deferrals based on risk are actually what we want to see, rather than a 5-year or 1-year deferral, which were among the possibilities for revision (and which countries like Sweden and Australia currently use), but which are not ideal, as they would not increase the donor supply nearly as much, nor be much more than a blanket ban on sexually active gay and bisexual men, still stigmatizing gays and bisexuals who are simply living their lives.
Or, put more simply, someone like me who is healthy, HIV-negative, and meets all of the other criteria, still could not donate under a 1-year deferral policy. Nor could 95% of the gay/bisexual men I know. Under a low-risk policy, many may be able to.
So, it looks like we may get some change on this policy, albeit it will take some more time.
More when I know it likely early next week.
Thanks again to everyone who submitted a comment. It looks like we may have made a dent to push this further.
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