Coronavirus and blood donation: what is the relation and who is eligible to donate?
India is facing a huge shortage of blood with the ongoing pandemic. While people are staying home to stay protected from the Coronavirus, the need for blood transfusions and blood donors is persistent. We at A.J. Hospital are trying our best to keep the blood services uninterrupted and urge you to help us do the same. In this blog, we tell you about eligibility of blood donors in the current pandemic and vaccination program along with the protocols we follow in our hospital.
Who is eligible to donate blood during the COVID-19 pandemic?
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Healthy individuals are encouraged to donate blood after making an appointment with whichever institute you want to donate blood to.
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After a mild to moderate Covid-19 infection which requires you to be home isolated, you can donate blood after 14 days.
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If you have had a Covid-19 infection that required any kind of hospitalization, you need a deterrent period of 90 days.
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If you have a cold, fever, cough, or any symptom which could be related to Covid-19, we request you to wait to get asymptomatic first and a waiting period of a day before making an appointment to donate blood.
What are the protocols for blood donation?
We at A.J. Hospital have ensured to maintain proper sanitization with all the protocols in place. Here are a few safety measures we undertake:
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Prior appointment: We request you to make a prior appointment with the organization or hospital of your preference before heading to them. Please be mindful of not crowding and maintaining social distancing at all times. If you do walk-in for the blood donation, you may be asked to wait in a waiting area as per the capacity to accommodate.
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Medical history: We want to make the blood donation process swift with minimum paperwork. We encourage you to inform us about your medical or prior health history while making an appointment, especially the details of having contracted the Coronavirus or your Covid-19 vaccination details.
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Self-protection: Every healthcare staff, donor, and guardian of the donors has to keep wearing the face mask all the time. You could be wearing an additional face shield or any other additional protective covering as per your convenience.
Covid vaccination and blood donation:
Every individual who has been under any vaccination program receives a card on which the name of the vaccination and the date of your vaccination is mentioned.
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Individuals, who have received inactivated strain or m-RNA based Covid vaccine-like Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, or AstraZeneca, do not have to wait to donate blood.
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While individuals who have received vaccines with live attenuated vaccines like Covishield or Covaxin, need to wait for two weeks after their second shot or immunity shot before donating blood.
If you are eligible and wish to donate blood, please make a prior appointment at a hospital near you. If you have any queries regarding your eligibility to donate blood, Covid-19, or Covid vaccination program, feel free to reach out to us at (+91) 824 222 5533.
Let’s donate blood, save lives.
