The CAP submitted comments in support of a recent proposal by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to relax rules on who is eligible to donate blood. Under draft recommendations announced January 26, monogamous gay and bisexual men would be allowed to donate blood and eligibility would be determined using individual risk-based questions.

The FDA proposal would eliminate time-based deferrals for men who have sex with men and women who have sex with men who have sex with men. The current donor history questionnaire would be revised to ask all prospective donors about new or multiple sexual partners in the past three months. Prospective donors who report having a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner in the past three months, would then be asked about a history of anal sex in the past three months. All prospective donors who report having a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner and had anal sex in the past three months would be deferred from donation.

In comments submitted March 27 to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, the CAP said it supports the proposed changes. “The proposed recommendations are more inclusive and more objective blood donor screening criteria, which expand opportunities for many prospective donors who have been excluded and potentially increases the blood supply while maintaining the high level of safety for life-saving blood transfusions that the medical community and the public expects,” the organization wrote.

The CAP encouraged the FDA to continue monitoring blood donor and donation safety, as it is necessary for all changes in donor suitability criteria via the Transfusion Transmissible Infections Monitoring Systems, and to perform ongoing evaluation of donor regulations for opportunities to be as inclusive as possible while maintaining transfusion safety. The CAP also urged the development of public information and education to promote blood donations from everyone who is eligible, including partnering with the LGBQT+ community for messaging to ensure the new policy becomes widely communicated.