By Marina Zhang
In a preprint published on March 15, six Japanese doctors and researchers propose changes to the processing of blood donations from COVID-19-vaccinated people and those who have a history of long COVID.
“The first and extremely important initial response is to make the medical personnel aware that such ‘risks’ exist,” the lead author, Jun Ueda, who has a doctorate in the field of integrated life sciences, told The Epoch Times.
The doctors come from renowned Japanese hospitals and universities, including Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Tokyo University of Science, Asahikawa Medical University, and Okamura Memorial Hospital.
The authors proposed that a surveillance system be established to track the health outcomes of blood recipients and that blood donors’ prior vaccine and infection history be recorded.
They believe there a protocol should be in place to check donated blood for vaccine mRNA, spike proteins, spike antibodies, and abnormal health markers. If found, these proteins and biomarkers should be removed.
Blood from the vaccinated makes up “essentially all of the current blood donor pool,” Dr. Nareg Roubinian, a researcher and professor of medicine at Kaiser Permanente, told The Epoch Times.
He added that he is unaware of any scientific basis for blood donations from the vaccinated or previously infected blood donors causing harm.
However, knowing that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are linked to various cardiovascular, neurological, and immunological conditions and that blood recipients have not had long-term follow-ups, the Japanese researchers insist that more should be done to ensure safety.
“Note that we are not asserting that blood transfusions are dangerous, but rather that there are ‘various concerns’ based on a synthesis of information on spike proteins and other factors,” Mr. Ueda wrote to The Epoch Times.
Waiting Period
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), donors who test positive for COVID-19 should refrain from blood donations for at least 10 days after the complete resolution of symptoms. If they are asymptomatic, they should refrain from donating for at least 10 days after the date of the positive test.
Donors who took the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine “can donate blood without a waiting period,” while those who took a live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccine should undergo “a short waiting period” like 14 days after receipt of the vaccine.
Studies on vaccinated people have shown that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can be detected in the blood 15 days post-vaccination. Therefore, it may be possible that blood donations may contain the vaccine, cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough suggested in his Substack blog.
He was also concerned that blood donated from vaccinated people may contain spike proteins, which have been shown to free-float in the blood for two to six months after vaccination.
Speculated Risks
In the preprint, the Japanese researchers primarily discussed the various risks associated with vaccine-related blood clotting and bleeding.
The COVID-19 vaccines cause cells to produce spike proteins in the body. Spike proteins are naturally present on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and play a critical role in causing viral infection and damage to infected patients.
Spike proteins have been shown to be toxic and can cause inflammation and induce blood clotting. In the blood, spike proteins form amyloid-like clots resistant to breakdown.
Mr. Ueda added that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are also linked to a wide variety of diseases involving all organs and systems.
Most recently, a study following 99 million people globally detected elevated risks of neurological diseases, including Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalomyelitis, blood clotting in the brain, and seizures among the vaccinated. The researchers also found that vaccinated people had many-fold increases in myocarditis and pericarditis risk.
So Far, No Safety Signals
Few studies have investigated this subject, and none has reported adverse events following blood transfusions from vaccinated or infected donors.
Dr. Roubinian’s team compared health outcomes among hospitalized adults who received plasma or platelet transfusions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Patients were followed for up to 30 days, and the researchers detected no trends in blood clotting related to each of the study periods.
He said that they are currently performing antibody testing of blood donors for COVID-19 infection and vaccination to evaluate if the timing of the infection or vaccination exposure correlates with adverse events in blood donation recipients.
Another research paper from doctors at the Mayo Clinic published in Blood Advances examined plasma donated by vaccine-boosted people to hospitalized, immunocompromised COVID-19 patients.
The researchers thought this plasma would contain anti-COVID-19 antibodies that would help patients fight the infection.
Thirty-one patients received plasma transfusions. Most had been treated with remdesivir or steroids, which did not appear to help alleviate their symptoms.
Over 80 percent of the patients survived the transfusions, and the authors observed no serious adverse events. More than half of the patients who received the transfusion improved rapidly and were discharged within five days, suggesting that the treatment may be beneficial.
However, the Japanese researchers said no long-term follow-up has been done to rule out safety concerns.
Possible Solutions
“In the current situation where the risk is not clear, autologous blood transfusions must be thoroughly implemented,” Mr. Ueda wrote.
A review published in Anesthesiology mentioned that physicians can suggest autologous and directed donations for concerned blood recipients.
Autologous donations involve a patient donating their own blood for later use, whereas directed donations are from a compatible donor, often a friend or family member.
However, the review, led by Dr. Katherine Forkin at the University of Virginia, added that such donations also involve significant health risks and costs.
For example, few centers are prepared to handle these donations, and insurance may not cover the procedures. Additionally, autologous donors with underlying anemia and comorbidities are at risk of harm if they donate blood.
Directed donations also carry risks. Blood donations from direct relatives have higher risks of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease in the recipient, a potentially fatal disease. Graft-versus-host disease occurs when donated immune cells recognize the recipient’s cells as foreign and start attacking them, which can lead to infections and organ damage.
Science or Ideology
A common talking point regarding vaccinated blood transfusions concerns whether recipients can ask that the donor’s vaccine status be disclosed.
According to the American Red Cross website, people vaccinated against COVID-19 can donate blood but must disclose the vaccine manufacturer’s name. Most donation organizations also test for COVID-19 antibodies to see whether these antibodies may lend immunity to recipients.
In a commentary, four researchers and doctors voiced concerns that the COVID-19 vaccine status of blood donors being made publicly available could affect the supply of blood donations. They also said that it could be discriminatory to make such details public.
Some doctors see these discussions as not based on science but on ideologies.
Some parents turn down blood donations out of fear of harm to their children, which raises ethical questions for doctors who see blood transfusions as a medical necessity.
In a testimony presented at Canada’s National Citizens Inquiry, a mother claimed the hospital would take her parental rights away if she did not consent to having her 11-year-old son receive donated blood from the hospital.
Her son passed away 12 weeks following the transfusion. She attributed his death to the transfusion.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ueda highlighted that his team’s paper is only meant to state concern but not “assert concern,” as that would cause anxiety and hinder the resolution of the problem.
Dr. McCullough believes there is currently no way to ensure a recipient receives spike protein- or mRNA-free blood.
“The field of blood banking is complex, highly regulated, and is tied to critical care of patients in immediate need of transfusion. No matter how strong the desire, there is simply no realistic, feasible, or practical way to achieve a vaccine or spike protein-free blood supply,” Dr. McCullough wrote on Substack.
“We should be vigilant to unusual transfusion reactions and case reports that could demonstrate transfer of mRNA in the future.”
