HEALTH & HUMAN RIGHTS
COVID Antibody Bar Limits Gay, Bi Men, PrEP Users
HIV prevention drug, recent gay sex disqualify those hoping to aid the sick
Sonja Krauthoefer of Germany’s University Hospital Erlangen reviews donated blood and plasma samples on April 7 to determine if the blood can be used to
produce therapeutic plasma to treat coronavirus patients who are seriously ill.
BY MATT TRACY
As public health offi cials
worldwide scramble to
develop antibody tests
to enable individuals
who have recovered from the coronavirus
to donate their antibodyrich
plasma for experimental injections
to help aid sick patients,
here in the US gay and bisexual
men sexually active in the past
three months as well as anyone on
PrEP and others who are otherwise
banned by the federal Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) from
donating blood need not apply.
“COVID-19 convalescent plasma
must only be collected from recovered
individuals if they are eligible
to donate blood,” an FDA spokesperson
told Gay City News via
email on April 7.
The demographics who are disqualifi
ed from donating blood generally
or the plasma that contains
potentially health-restoring conronavirus
antibodies includes not
only everyone currently on PrEP
but also large numbers of queer
men, women and non-binary folks
who have had sex with them, and
sex workers.
The FDA’s statement to Gay City
News came just days after the federal
agency’s April 2 decision to revise
its policy on blood and plasma
donation eligibility in an effort to
increase the pool of individuals
who are able to donate — given the
recent fall-off in customary donors
turning up at blood banks.
The three-plus decade ban on
gay and bisexual men from donating
blood was altered by reducing
the time a queer man must remain
sexaully abstinent in order to donate.
After an absolute ban on men
who have sex with men giving blood
that began in 1983, the policy was
revised in 2015 so that such men
could give blood so long as they
had been abstinent for at least a
year. Last week, that period of required
abstinence was reduced to
three months.
In other words, the policy retained
the longstanding prohibition
on sexually active gay and
bisexual men and any female or
non-binary partners they are having
sex with from donating blood.
And now, those limitations have
explicitly been extended to anyone
wishing to donate plasma rich
in COVID-19 antibodies. In fact,
the policy has been broadened to
also block anyone currently taking
PrEP from aiding in the fi ght
against the coronavirus.
Sabri Ben-Achour, a man taking
REUTERS/ ANDREAS GEBERT
Truvada for PrEP who suspected
that he had coronavirus
last month but could not get a test,
documented his unsuccessful attempt
to donate his antibody-rich
plasma. During an interview with
NBC News, he explained that he
applied to donate his plasma and
was subsequently invited by offi -
cials at Mount Sinai to undergo a
screening process that would fi rst
require him to get his blood drawn.
That blood test would determine
if he had coronavirus in the fi rst
place and whether his blood contained
a suffi cient level of antibodies
to the virus, which could benefi
t the recovery process for those
who are very ill with coronavirus.
Ben-Achour disclosed during
that screening that he was taking
Truvada for PrEP, but he was
nonetheless directed to draw blood
at the hospital anyway. That blood
work revealed that he indeed had
coronavirus and a “robust” level of
antibodies, prompting doctors to
ask that he donate his plasma as
soon as possible.
Just days later, however, he
learned that blood work exercise
turned out to have been a waste of
time.
Just as he was set for an appointment
at the New York Blood
Center to donate his blood, he received
a phone call from Mount Sinai
telling him that he would not
be able to donate blood because he
has been taking PrEP.
And while that case happened
here in New York, individuals are
likely going to be confronted with
similar rejections elsewhere because
the FDA’s policy applies nationwide.
One area where queer people
are not expected to face rejection,
however, is antibody testing
that could help identify those who
have been infected but never got
tested for COVID-19, but have either
recovered or never manifested
symptoms. The FDA in early April
approved an antibody test and
Governor Andrew Cuomo said on
April 7 that the state is moving
ahead with its own antibody testing
campaign.
“We cannot restart life as we
knew it without testing,” Cuomo
wrote in a tweet about antibody
tests on April 7. “Testing is the essential
component. The NYS Dept
of Health has developed antibody
testing and is working with the
FDA to bring it to scale. We are
working with NJ & CT to ensure
we move forward using a regional
approach.”
The revised blood and plasma
ban came after a wave of public
pleas from elected offi cials who
expressed frustration that such a
ban would continue through such
a health crisis. Out gay Manhattan
State Senator Brad Hoylman
helped lead the way on that front,
followed by out gay Councilmembers
Daniel Dromm of Queens,
who chairs the Council’s LGBT
Caucus, and Ritchie Torres of the
Bronx.
Democratic members of both
houses of Congress also echoed
those calls, including Representatives
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
and Carolyn Maloney of New York
and Senators Cory Booker of New
Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio,
Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Kamala
Harris of California, Amy
Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie
Sanders of Vermont, and Elizabeth
Warren and Massachusetts.
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