The increase in coronavirus infections due to the omicron variant, together with the Christmas holidays, has meant that blood reserves intended for transfusions have fallen below minimum levels in Spain, which has led the Ministry of Health to relax the requirements that blood donors were required to have recently tested positive for COVID-19.
The Scientific Committee on Transfusion Safety of the Ministry of Health has made the decision to reduce from 14 to seven the days that must pass until a person who has tested positive for Covid-19 and is asymptomatic can donate blood. According to the experts of the Committee “The current epidemiological situation, which is compromising the supply of blood components, the non-linkage of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 with transfusion, and the need to harmonize the management criteria established by the health authorities , require adapting the donor selection criteria contemplated until now”.
For this reason, they indicate that donors with a diagnosis of COVID but who are asymptomatic will be able to donate seven days after diagnosis, while if they had experienced symptoms of COVID-19, each Transfusion Center will be in charge of assessing whether the exclusion is due. reduce to seven days in the event that the symptoms are considered mild.
If a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 disease is obtained 48 hours after donating blood, the collection center should be contacted
The new criteria will contribute to increasing the reserves of blood components (plasma, platelets or red blood cells) and to avoid having to suspend surgical interventions or transplants, or not being able to attend to certain medical emergencies. The donor will also be asked that “if during the 48 hours post-donation they obtain a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 disease, they notify the extraction center.”
Extraordinary campaigns to donate blood
According to data from the Ministry of Health, “in 2020, of the population between 18 and 65 years of age,
More than a million people donated blood, of which 15% did so for the first time. The number of donations made was 1,632,447 (82,580 apheresis) and thus, thanks to the generosity of the people who donated their blood in our country, these donations have made it possible to carry out 1,800,000 transfusions and have treated more than 457,000 patients”.
Now, however, the shortage of donations has prompted the communities to call on the population to donate and in some, such as Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid or La Rioja, extraordinary campaigns have been launched to blood donation, which usually decreases during the Christmas holidays, but this year has been especially affected by the high number of coronavirus infections.
Thus, from the Junta de Andalucía they warn that “blood from all groups, without exception” is needed. Madrid requests blood donations from groups 0-, A-, B-, 0+ and A+, because according to those responsible for health in this community, the reserves are below 50% and are not recovered.
In the Balearic Islands, the Blood and Tissue Bank of the Islands warns that the lack of blood “seriously compromises the health care of patients”, since currently they only obtain half of the 200 necessary donations, and reports that since it began the pandemic has reduced the number of new donors by 5,000.
The Canarian Institute of Hemodonation and Hemotherapy (ICHH) of the Canary Islands demands that blood of all groups be donated, especially A+, O+ and O- because the stock levels have experienced a significant decrease. And after registering a 22% drop in donations during Christmas, the Blood Bank of La Rioja also needs to increase the reserves of all groups, especially A-.
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