PEOPLE CAN DONATE BLOOD 14 DAYS AFTER TAKING A COVID-19 VACCINE
PEOPLE CAN DONATE BLOOD 14 DAYS AFTER TAKING A COVID-19 VACCINE, according to an expert committee set up to review an earlier directive to donate blood only after 28 days.
Blood Donation deferral criteria for the vaccine is from 7 to 14 day in most countries.But in India, the authorities had set the deferral period of 28 days after one dose of vaccine.This would have created a major crisis in blood banks as majority of voluntary donors are in the 18 to 44 age group. Now, the NTBC has revised the deferral period to 14 days.
“It’s a welcome move to reduce the deferral period. Blood banks across the country were asking for it,” said Dr Harish Warbhe, medical director of Lifeline Blood Bank. He still insisted that youths should go for blood donation before jab
EVEN ITS BETTER YOU DONATE BEFORE THE VACCINATION
A letter by NBTC director Dr Sunil Gupta said that as “the government recently made Covid-19 vaccination available for general population above 18 years and the fact that so far no live attenuated vaccine has become available in the country, an expert group was constituted to review the advisory/guidelines.’’
The notification said the expert group had decided to reduce the deferral period for blood donors to 14 days “after receiving each/any dose of currently available Covid-19 vaccines in the country’’.
Vinay Sheety of NGO Think Foundation said the new directive would help ensure there is no shortage of blood in any city.
The Union health ministry increased the gap between two Covishield shots from 28 days to four-eight weeks, and up to 42 days between two Covaxin shots.
India’s deferral period for blood donation is among the longest. American Red Cross has a period of 14 days for vaccines made from live attenuated virus and none for mRNA vaccines. UK has seven days for Oxford vaccine (Covishield).
