Questionnaire asking blood donors’ vaccination status isn’t proof COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe

An American Red Cross questionnaire asking blood donors about their vaccination status does not show that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe, as some social media users have claimed. 

Multiple Instagram posts shared screenshots from an American Red Cross blood donor survey that asked, "Have you EVER had a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine?" 

The posts includes text without proper punctuation that says, "The American Red Cross is now asking blood donors if they ever received the Covid vaccine If you answer Yes, they want you to call ahead to see if you’re still eligible I thought the vax was ‘safe and effective’? What info are they hiding from us?" 

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

First, the question is not new. American Red Cross spokesperson Daniel Parra told PolitiFact in an email that the organization has been asking potential donors if they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 since December 2020.

All blood collectors ask every potential donor about their vaccine history, Parra said, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires various wait times to donate blood depending on the vaccine donors received. 

For example, people who received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are asked to wait four weeks before donating blood, and those who received a hepatitis B vaccine are asked to wait 21 days before giving blood, according to American Red Cross guidance. 

Parra said people who received a COVID-19 vaccine are asked to provide the name of the vaccine’s manufacturer to ensure they received an FDA-approved vaccine. If their vaccine was approved by the FDA, then they can give blood without a waiting period. If they can’t remember the name of the manufacturer, they must wait two weeks from their vaccination before they can give blood.

FDA guidance was updated in 2022 to say that COVID-19 vaccine recipients do not need a waiting period for blood donation unless they received a live-attenuated viral COVID-19 vaccine, in which case they should wait two weeks.

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Live-attenuated vaccines are distinct because they contain a weakened form of the germ that can cause an infection. They are included in some bacterial and viral vaccines to provide immunity against future infection. The Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies, a non-profit representing blood collectors and other institutions involved in transfusion medicine, says wait periods are recommended because it is possible that blood donors who have received live-attenuated vaccines can pass the virus to others through blood donations.

Carly Pflaum, an FDA spokesperson, told PolitiFact via email that no live-attenuated viral COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for use in the U.S., and all FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines are nonreplicating, inactivated or mRNA based.

However, a live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccine is under development in the clinical trial stage. This vaccine would be administered intranasally and produce an immune response to multiple COVID-19 strains and variants. 

There is no scientific evidence showing U.S.-approved COVID-19 vaccines contaminate blood transfusions and put recipients at risk. "The COVID-19 vaccine is designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness, but vaccine components themselves are not found within the bloodstream," Parra said. 

We rate the claim that an American Red Cross questionnaire asking blood donors about their vaccination status proves COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous False.