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Blood donations have fallen to catastrophic levels. Experts say young people need to step up. (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Changes to the requirements for donating blood coupled with the pandemic have led to a drop-off in the number of teens and young adults donating blood.

It was a white T-shirt bearing the likeness of Snoopy wearing shades and leaning effortlessly against the iconic American Red Cross logo that prompted a surge in blood donations in the spring of 2023.

“Be cool. Give blood,” the shirt urged. The message — on young people, anyway — was effective. More than 70,000 people under age 35 responded to the call, rolling up their sleeves and giving blood in exchange for the coveted tees.

The need for blood is urgent. Over the holidays, the Red Cross had 7,000 fewer units of blood available than were needed by hospitals, said Dr. Eric Gehrie, the executive medical director of the American Red Cross. The organization speculated it would need about 8,000 additional donations every week in January to ensure that hospitals are fully supplied, he added.

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[–] funkless_eck 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean some of us are LGBTQ+ and were explicitly forbidden to give blood for decades, and to my knowledge that only changed in May of 2023 in the US. Many people may not have got that message (including me until just now when I looked it up).

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I am as well, and still am not eligible because of other reasons. Glancing through things, it seems that being on PrEP is also a disqualifier due to interference with HIV testing, which is unfortunate but also perfectly reasonable, so the real net effect is that men in monogamous relationships are eligible. That's still real progress though, and the current rules basically represent medical reality now instead of prejudice.

My point here is more against the people who are perfectly able to donate without any major inconvenience to themselves at all, but rather than simply honestly admitting that they don't want or care to (which is fine! You can't dedicate yourself to every cause in the world), they instead feel the need to justify it as some natural consequence of capitalism or our shitty healthcare system or whatnot, saying "Oh, I would donate, because of course I'm a good person, but because of the injustices of capitalism I'm actually entitled to payment and thus cannot participate in this oppressive system. Sorry grandma."

It's a bit maddening. It's perfectly fine to not want to commit any given selfless act, but just own up to it.