People who have fully recovered from the coronavirus may be able to donate their plasma to help critically ill patients currently fighting the infection.
Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center has begun collecting and distributing COVID-19 convalescent plasma to area hospitals, though they had to wait until well after the pandemic started to get the program up and running.
Patients who have tested positive must wait at least 14 days after they are symptom-free before they are eligible to donate, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
With the first confirmed cases in the area coming in late March, that meant WKRBC had to wait until mid-April to start accepting plasma.
“We drew our first donor on April 15 and that’s long gone,” said Janet Howard, CEO of WKRBC. “That plasma was given almost as quickly as we got the testing completed on it.”
Howard said they’ve had people from as nearly 100 miles away lining up to donate, and some have given two to four units of plasma.
Though some of the plasma has been used locally, WKRBC has also worked with other hospitals in the state that have a bigger need.
“We’ve helped hospitals in Louisville because they had less availability for the product there,” Howard said. “We’re trying to get a stockpile. We don’t have one yet because we haven’t been doing this for long and there are so many needing it. We’re trying to get ahead of the game, but we’re not there yet.”
She said the next two weeks will be good for collecting as the number of recovered patients starts to increase at a greater rate.
Not everyone is eligible to donate — such women who are pregnant or people with certain other health conditions — and everyone has to meet all the criteria of a regular donor. Similarly, only hospitalized COVID-19 patients who meet certain criteria will be eligible to receive plasma treatments.
Though the program is still relatively new and further investigation by the FDA is still necessary to determine the effectiveness of convalescent plasma as a treatment, Howard has been happy with the turnout so far.
“I’ve got to give it to these recovered COVID patients,” she said. “They know what it’s like and they want to help someone. They have been awesome. We’ve had people who have donated who have already called and said they want to donate again.”
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