Blood banks aren’t tracking unvaccinated blood
Expert
Dr Katrine Wallace (Epidemiologist Kat): Doctor of Epidemiology, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago | UIC · School of Public Health
Claim
Unvaccinated individuals will be “hunted” due to their blood and plasma donations at Red Cross and other donation centers.
Reality
The American Association of Blood Banks recently published an infographic to emphasize that there is no reason to refuse a donation because somebody is vaccinated. They also confirmed that they don’t label blood bags as either vaccinated or unvaccinated.
There is no scientifically valid reason to make a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated blood.
A study published in December compared blood transfusion-related adverse events between three time periods. pre-Covid, pre-2021 (Covid, but no vaccines yet), and 2021-onward—Covid, with vaccines. There was no statistically significant difference in adverse events between those three time periods if you give blood from a vaccinated donor to an unvaccinated person.
