But the Red Cross statement you posted says “At this time” and they are “evaluating this change”, so maybe someone jumped the gun.
I almost think they are going to have to re evaluate. They can’t promote not getting a vaccine just to get plasma at this point.
I haven’t looked into it, but I think they’re saying that just getting vaccinated doesn’t make you eligible to donate convalescent plasma.
I don’t think they’re saying getting vaccinated makes someone previously eligible becomes ineligible.
If so, I agree it is poorly worded.
No. And blood with vaccine still helps a ton a ton a ton. More people need blood for non-Covid reasons. I don’t think they are discouraging people at all. I thought they were just being transparent that once you’ve had the vaccine your bliss won’t be used as convalescent plasma anymore.
Hmmmm. I thought it meant if you were giving convalescent plasma, but then got the vaccine, it wouldn’t be used that way anymore
In any case, people should give blood is they can no matter what. There are more people who need blood than just Covid patients.
I found a more detailed article.
Sounds like they are testing all plasma and if it has high enough antibodies, they will use it, vaccinated or not.
Ok. So both facts are right.
I bet some people didn’t understand what convalescent plasma even meant.
Red Cross has to nip that in the bud. Blood donations are always lacking, but going into summer, they can not afford any less.
I always say Go TRY to donate. They will let you know if you can’t or stop the dispensing.
I don’t donate, as I can barely make it through a blood draw for my own testing. I have the tiniest veins and usually need a pediatric needle and a very experienced nurse to get a quick draw. My DH has donated in the past, before his third shift days. He plans to donate again when he goes back to first. He is going to be donating to our local blood bank, rather than the Red Cross though. Apparently in this area, the Red Cross ships the supply out of state. My DH wants to make sure he can donate to local hospitals.
Wow. That’s crazy!! I don’t blame him.
The Red Cross sends me an email when my blood is dispensed. I’ve seen it go all over NY, but the most exciting was when it went to my own hospital. 
Yep, they are great about communicating! I got a one year ban because I kept testing positive for HTLV antibodies. Super weird. I’m chomping at the bit to donate again!
@BoilerMomPharmD Thanks for the link! Going to send it to my son, who has 7 year old twins and is really struggling with the right thing to do.
All good?
Yes it’s a false positive. I test positive on the generic screen but the confirmatory tests are all negative. But they can’t use the blood. Told me to try again in a year.
The last quote in the article: putting our children’s needs first. I’m not talking about the mask situation, as it has helped in schools. I do think that throughout this pandemic, children were a very low priority. I heard some comments about them being germ factories (my kids were better at masks than my parents were, and still are). I’ve heard that kids are resilient. True to a point, but working with under 3 year olds, our referrals have sky rocketed for speech, behavior, and social concerns, as well as red flags for autism. Mental health for kids has been pushed to the side in a lot of cases. In our area, there are not a lot of activities for young children to see other young children. I have parents asking about outdoor activities and small playgroups. There really is not much other than the play ground or daycares. Our libraries are still completely virtual for the local summer reading program (really? It’s summer. You can’t do some outside activities?).
We really do need to start focusing on kids. Adults have the opportunity to get vaccinated. It’s time to start looking at how we can give more opportunities for kids to interact and gain some of the skills they missed this past year.
I can’t heart this enough.
Thanks for highlighting this article. I’ve found her prior posts super interesting, balanced, and helpful, but haven’t had time to keep up with all my usual Covid info sources while simultaneously freaking out about our trip (now underway…crossed into Florida already)!
That the risk of developing MIS-C is less than 1 in 1,000 actually gives me pause. I know there is a genetic predisposition to having Kawasaki disease. I haven’t seen anything data-based yet (just opinion) on whether that same genetic predisposition would make one more prone to MIS-C.
One of my twins had Kawasaki disease at age 3. Odds of getting Kawasaki are 1 in 10,000. Knowing that, suddenly, 1 in 1,000 doesn’t seem reassuring to me, especially if there could be a genetic disposition common to both. And it would apply to both twins since they are identical. But I don’t know if they have the genetic predisposition or if it was just a fluke thing.
I can’t tell y’all how scary Kawasaki was. I watched him go into shock twice while in the hospital in the 2 days before they got the correct diagnosis. Then there were 18 months of follow up pediatric cardiologist visits to confirm there was no heart damage.
DH is in the “lightning doesn’t strike twice” camp. He would probably go back to (mostly) normal but he is very respectful of my concerns. I waffle because of the genetic aspect. They could be at entirely normal risk and I’m being overly cautious. Or not.
I don’t post often, but was nervous about traveling in May for reasons related to kid safety and COVID and you were the very first person to reply to my very first post. So just dropping in to wish you the BEST trip!!! I know the anxiety everyone has about keeping their kids safe and this thread has been so useful, even for us lurkers.
Honestly, I don’t know I would do given his medical history. I am a born worrier, myself.
That’s one of my gripes. I’d like to see more outside-the-box thinking and effort on how to be very low risk AND mitigate some of these other issues. This pressing need to “get back to normal” that some people have just defies logic to me. If we can make things significantly better in these concern areas and improve quality of life, with very low risk, that seems more prudent than pretending things are normal. Because they aren’t yet. The spread rate among unvaccinated people is still what it was around November.
And new hospitalizations in 0-17s seem to have hit a plateau, despite 16-17s being eligible for vaccination for awhile now. I’m hoping that means we aren’t seeing the impacts of 12-15s being vaccinated yet.
