Does the American Red Cross say you cannot donate blood plasma if you've had the vaccine because the vaccine wipes out the body's natural antibodies? No, that's not true: The COVID-19 vaccine does not override or change the body, according to an infectious disease specialist. And the medical director of the American Red Cross says in most cases the organization accepts blood, platelets and plasma donations after a COVID-19 vaccine as long as the donor is feeling healthy and and is well.
The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) on May 25, 2021. It opened:
The American Red Cross says you cannot donate Blood Plasma if you've had the vaccine, because the vaccine wipes out the body's natural antibodies.
Social media users saw this on Instagram:
(Source: Instagram screenshot Wed May 26 09:34:46 UTC 2021)
The American Red Cross is accepting donated plasma from people who have had the vaccine and otherwise qualify to donate. Lead Stories previously debunked the claim that you cannot donate plasma if you've had the vaccine here.
Dr. Otto Yang, a UCLA researcher whose specialty is infectious disease, explained over the phone to Lead Stories on May 26, 2021, that the COVID-19 vaccine does not destroy the body's pre-existing antibodies.
There is no issue with overriding or changing or looking different. From the standpoint of the immune system, it is exactly the same thing. Our immune system is evolved to deal with numerous infections in our lifetime. If every time you got a new infection you wiped out everything you had before, your immune system wouldn't work. And we know that isn't the case. It's not like you get the flu and then you're susceptible to getting measles. There is no reason that you can't make antibodies against multiple things over time. That makes no sense.
Dr. Baia Lasky, medical director for the American Red Cross, explained to Lead Stories via email on May 26, 2021, that in most cases the organization is accepting blood, platelets and plasma donations after a COVID-19 vaccine as long as the donor is feeling healthy and well.
Antibodies that an individual produces when they've been exposed to the virus are slightly different from the antibodies that an individual produces when they've been vaccinated.
Donating blood, platelets or plasma after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine does not reduce a donor's protection from the virus. Similar to other vaccines such as measles, mumps or influenza, the COVID-19 vaccine is designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness.
A donor's immune response is not impacted by giving blood. Vaccine components themselves are not found within the blood stream.
When an individual has been infected with a virus, they produce antibodies to multiple regions of a virus.
