
It was revised again in April 2020 in response to critical blood shortages and reduced donation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with male donors now needing only wait three months after sexual contact with another man to donate blood.ĭespite the reduced restrictions, critics of the policy contend it remains outdated, as modern HIV testing have accuracy rates of 99-100%. The policy was revised in 2015, allowing this group of men to donate only if they had abstained from sexual contact with other men for one year. At the time, testing for HIV in donated blood was not sufficiently reliable, and thousands of people had contracted HIV through blood transfusions. In response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, the FDA in 1985 instituted a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who had sex with men after 1977, pointing to high rates of HIV infection in that population.

“I looked up the eligibility requirements and was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that the Food and Drug Administration deferral policy remains outdated and homophobic,” Carrier wrote. is currently facing a critical nationwide blood shortage, and a recent University of Chicago Medicine call for donors prompted Carrier to check if any donor criteria had changed. “But after having conversations with those around me I felt compelled to further discussions on this topic especially when our healthcare system is already under immense strain.” “Before coming to Pritzker, I never really considered op-eds as a possible avenue of advocacy,” Carrier said. Fellow M1 Tony Liu also had his op-ed for the course, on the youth mental health crisis, published in the Tribune on Dec. Shikha Jain from the University of Illinois at Chicago to lead an op-ed writing workshop, and Krishnamoorthi said the majority of the class chose op-ed formats for their final assignment. Krishnamoorthi and student leaders in the Health Policy Interest Group decided to invite Dr.

Ruhnke, and he decided to submit it for publication. For the second time in as many weeks, a first-year Pritzker student appeared in the Chicago Tribune’s opinion pages, this time with an op-ed challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s policy restricting blood donations from men who have had recent sexual contact with men.Ĭhristian Carrier, who is a co-leader of the OUTPatient LGBTQ+ student group at Pritzker, penned the op-ed that was published Monday, bringing renewed attention to a policy he called “unethical and unfair to gay and bisexual men and, most importantly, to the millions of patients who desperately need blood transfusions.” The piece called for an end to the FDA's policy, in part to address the current blood shortage in the U.S.Ĭarrier’s op-ed was his final assignment in his first-year course "The American Healthcare System," directed by Dr.
