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basic donor eligibility, weigh at least 110 pounds, healthy on donation day, 16 yrs old with parental permission and bring a photo ID

Age: You must be 17 years old, or 16 years old with a parental consent form
(Download the parental consent form in Spanish).

Weight: at least 110 pounds.

Health: You must be in good health and feeling well on the day of donation. Prospective donors should eat a full meal within four hours of donating, avoiding fried, fatty foods and whole dairy products.

I.D. required to donate: Photo ID required. Contact the blood center for religious exceptions.

Allergy shots: Acceptable

Antibiotics: Complexion and prevention of urinary tract infection (women only) – acceptable, other – 48 hours after final dose, if the reason for taking the antibiotics has been eliminated. If antibiotics were received by injection, you must wait 2 weeks before donating.

Autologous (Self-donation): eligible 3 months after surgery.

Blood donation: Whole blood: 56 days (8 weeks) since last donation. Automated, double red cells: 112 days.

Blood transfusion: 3 months after receiving blood or blood products.

Cancer: One year after treatment completed with no recurrence. Leukemia and Lymphomas cannot be accepted. Carcinoma in situ of cervix is acceptable. Skin cancer is usually acceptable if basal or squamous cell. Melanoma –one year after completion of treatment and no recurrence.

Colds: Accept if no fever, sore throat, cough associated with a cold, headache, fatigue and not on antibiotics. Over the counter cold remedies are acceptable in the absence of the above symptoms.

COVID-19: You are ELIGIBLE to donate 10 days after recovery (no symptoms) from COVID-19 or if exposure to COVID-19 occurred more than 10 days ago and you have had no symptoms since the exposure. Donors vaccinated or not and exposed to someone with a positive test result BUT protected by personal protective equipment (well fitted medical grade or cloth mask) and have no symptoms may donate. Click here for more information regarding COVID-19 and eligibility. See COVID-19 vaccinations.

Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease: As of July 2022 the FDA has released revised deferral criteria for Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (aka Mad Cow Disease). Donors who were previously deferred due to risk of exposure to CJD / Mad Cow Disease have been reinstated as potential donors. Please review updated deferral here and call Donor Services Auditing at 800-747-5401 to see if your eligibility has changed.

Dental work: Eligible 7 days after dental procedure if no infection and not receiving antibiotics. Routine teeth cleaning is acceptable.

Diabetes: Acceptable if well on day of donation.

Ears or skin pierced: Acceptable if single use equipment was used. Otherwise: 3 month deferral. Acupuncture acceptable if performed using single-use needle.

Flu Vaccination: See vaccinations.

Tattoos: Acceptable if tattoo was applied in a licensed facility in a regulated state. Otherwise: 3 month deferral.

List of regulated states

Epilepsy Medications: Acceptable if seizure-free for 3 months.

Hay Fever: Acceptable. Hay fever remedies are acceptable.

Heart Conditions: An angiogram is acceptable if results were normal. Angioplasty (balloon), stent, or heart attack are acceptable after 6 months if stable and no activity restrictions. Heart surgery is a 12 month deferral if stable and no restrictions.

Herpes Simplex 1: (Cold Sore) Acceptable, when outbreak is dry and crusted.

Herpes Simplex 2: (Venereal) Acceptable, when outbreak is dry and crusted.

LGBTQIA+: See frequently asked questions at bottom of this page and click here for latest developments.

Major surgery: Most surgeries are acceptable when healed, released from immediate doctor’s care, infection-free, no blood was transfused, and return to normal activities.

Minor surgery: Acceptable if no sign of infection. Stitches and cast are acceptable.

Medications: vitamins, hormones, birth control pills, thyroid medications, aspirin, fertility drugs, non-steroid anti-inflammatory and pain medications are all acceptable. 

  • Meds to treat HIV/AIDS (ART)—indefinite deferral
  • PrEP to prevent HIV/AIDS infection—3-month deferral

List of Medication Deferrals  List of Medication Deferrals (Spanish)

Mpox: click here for information

Potential Exposure to HIV/AIDS: All donors are asked about history of behavior that can increase the possibility of exposure to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

Pregnancy: Acceptable 6 weeks after delivery or termination of pregnancy. Breast-feeding is acceptable.

Ulcers: Acceptable if symptom-free at the time of donation. Most medications are acceptable.

Vaccinations: 21 days after hepatitis B or combination Hepatitis B and A vaccines (Heptavax, Energix, Recombivax), 4 weeks after MMR, Shingles and Chickenpox (herpes zoster vaccine or Varivax). Flu shots are acceptable. Vaccinations for COVID-19 are acceptable. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccines are acceptable.

If you have had the following, you cannot donate blood.

  • Blood disease, such as leukemia
  • Positive test for hepatitis B or C
  • HIV: positive test ever
  • Lymphoma

Donor Eligibility Handout  Donor Eligibility Handout (Spanish)

frequently asked questions

Scroll down to review frequently asked LGBTQIA+ eligibility questions. If you are not sure of your eligibility to donate blood, please fill out our deferral/eligibility inquiry form and our Donor/Patient Services team will follow-up with you.

Visit bloodcenter.org/earlyq to fill out your online donor history questionnaire

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FAQs

  • What is Individual Donor Assessment?

    ImpactLife implemented Individual Donor Assessment in pre-donation screening on Sept. 25, 2023. Individual Donor Assessment creates more equitable donor eligibility standards for prospective blood donors by using gender-inclusive, individual sexual behavior-based questions in pre-donation screening.

    AABB: FAQs on Individual Donor Assessment (.pdf)

  • What are the changes to the regulations?

    On May 11, 2023 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published final guidance on recommendations for evaluating donor eligibility using individual assessment of health and history to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by blood and blood products. Under the new guidance from FDA:

    • The (previous) blanket deferrals for men who have sex with men and for women who have sex with men who have sex with men were eliminated. 
    • The Donor History Questionnaire has been revised to ask all donors about new or multiple sexual partners in the past three months. 
    • Donors who have had a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner in the past three months, will then be asked about a history of anal sex in the past three months. 
      • Donors who have had a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner and had anal sex in the past three months are now deferred from donation for three months. 
      • Donors who have not had new or multiple sexual partners, and anal sex in the past three months, may be eligible to donate, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.
    • Medications taken to prevent or reduce likelihood of HIV infection (PrEP or PEP) will result in deferral for three months (oral medication) or two years (injection) as they may delay detection by licensed screening tests for blood donations, potentially resulting in false negative results.
      • Donors should not stop taking any medication regimen prescribed by their provider to donate blood.
  • Why are these changes happening?
    • The FDA guidance creates more equitable donor eligibility standards for blood donors by using gender inclusive, individual sexual behavior-based questions in pre-donation screening.
    • This change is in line with policies in place in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada that have made changes in recent years.
    • The FDA evaluated data from ongoing surveillance of the U.S. blood supply and results from studies conducted by other countries. The FDA also sponsored a recent study, Assessing Donor Variability and New Concepts in Eligibility (ADVANCE), to observe data among domestic populations.
    • This guidance has been updated two times, starting in 2015 when the lifetime ban of men who have had sex with another man was lifted and then again in 2020 when the 12-month deferral for sexual contact with another man was reduced to three months.
  • Is this change politically motivated?

    No.

    • Having a safe and adequate blood supply is in the best interests of all patients requiring blood transfusions, which come from volunteer blood donors of all political parties and affiliations.
    • Blood centers across the country have united in support of this change and have advocated for change for years due to the excellent safety record of current infectious disease tests and more recent data on the risks associated with transmission of HIV.
    • The previous time-based deferral has alienated a subset of the population due to its focus on gender identity and sexual orientation rather than individual sexual behavior. 
    • The new guidance provides for screening protocols that are applied to all donors regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation.
  • Will this impact the safety of blood products for patients?
    • Based on the data available to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today, the decision was made to proceed with confidence that it would continue to support a safe and robust blood supply.
    • The new screening protocols apply a set of screening questions about sexual behavior to all donors vs. a small subset of donors, which supports safety screening methodology.
  • Will this help overcome blood shortages?

    We don’t know. 

    • Currently more than 60% of adults in the U.S. are eligible to voluntarily donate blood, yet in most communities less than 5% roll up their sleeves to help each year. 
    • The volunteer donor base is aging and lacking in younger more diverse blood donors, so there are concerns about the long-term sustainability of the blood supply. 
    • A donor screening process that equitably applies to all donors should help support a robust blood supply.
    • It is too early to tell how many donors will or will not be deferred with the new criteria.
  • Why can’t people on PrEP or PEP donate while taking this preventative medication?
    • Medications taken to prevent or reduce likelihood of HIV infection (PrEP or PEP) will result in deferral for three months (oral medication) or two years (injection) as they may delay detection by licensed screening tests for blood donations, potentially resulting in false negative results.
    • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will continue to monitor data for possible changes in the future.
    • FDA and blood centers across the country recommend that donors continue medicine regimes as prescribed by their physicians and do not discontinue or delay taking medications to be eligible to donate blood.
    • Click here to see a full list of medications that result in deferral from blood donation, and for more information, see www.bloodcenter.org/eligibility.
  • Why is this sexual behavior-based screening protocol necessary?

    Despite excellent dual testing protocols for sexually transmitted viruses, there is a short window of time that a new infection may not be detectable by antibody or Nucleic Acid Testing protocols.

  • Will blood centers still ask donors about gender identity?

    Most blood centers will still ask gender identity questions because it helps determine which blood components can be made from a single donation. 

    • For example, blood centers cannot make plasma products from a donor who has previously been pregnant (without additional testing) or positive genetic markers in their plasma that can cause Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI) among patients receiving transfusion.
    • With no knowledge of gender, blood centers must use the most stringent criteria based on gender, such as hemoglobin (HGB) and total blood volume (TBV). This would mean that all females must have a minimum HGB of 13.0 rather than 12.5 and lead to unnecessary deferrals. The same is true TBV, which is used to determine eligibility to donate some apheresis products. This would limit the number of females eligible for those apheresis procedures. Both scenarios would have a detrimental impact on the blood supply.

    These gender questions may not defer a donor from giving.