Alabama blood suppliers have expressed a pressing need for donations ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend with supplies in North Alabama reaching critically low levels.

Suppliers have been struggling to maintain a steady stream of donations which were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2022 the American Red Cross declared its first “national blood crisis.” Just last month the organization’s Alabama and Mississippi region reported a shortfall of around 26,000 donations.

Communications Director Annette Rowland said the organization have been able to make up those numbers and currently have the desired four-five day supply on-hand but remains concerned about maintaining that supply throughout the summer.

“Typically, in this timeframe we start to see a decrease in blood donations. We saw a concerning decrease last month so we see it coming and we are trying to mitigate that,” Rowland said.

Lifesouth — the state’s primary blood supplier — provide supplies for 17 hospital’s in North Alabama. Donor Recruiter Melanie Moore said the current supply is “extremely low.”

Moore said one cause for the low supply stems from the increased growth North Alabama has experienced in recent years. “We’re experiencing tremendous growth right now, which is great. But, the roads are, in many places, nightmarish and there has been an uptick in accidents. There has also, unfortunately, been more shootings in the metropolitan areas,” she said.

Hospitals will place orders with Lifesouth based on their daily needs by factoring in any scheduled procedures and any anticipated additional factors. Moore said the organization is currently struggling to meet that demand.

“For many weeks now we’ve been backordered on type O blood. Just over a week ago that transitioned to all blood types,” Moore said.

Both organizations are hopeful that a string of new guidelines from the FDA, which lift previously enforced bans on certain potential donors, will soon bring a welcomed increase to the available blood supply.

In 2020, the FDA lifted its 20-year ban on donors who had experienced extended European travel between 1980 and 1996 due to potential exposure to mad cow disease. The change allowed around an additional 4.4 million veterans, service members and civilians to donate blood.

In May, the agency lifted a lifetime donation ban on predominately gay/bisexual men that was put in place due to the fear around the spread of HIV. Those restrictions were relaxed in 2015 to require an abstinence period of 12 months and again in 2020 to reduce deferral times to three months.

The FDA’s new policy will present all donors, regardless of sexual orientation, with a uniform risk-based questionnaire.

“The FDA has worked diligently to evaluate our policies and ensure we had the scientific evidence to support individual risk assessment for donor eligibility, while maintaining appropriate safeguards to protect recipients of blood products,” said Peter Marks, M.D., PhD., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Under the new guidelines, anyone taking daily preventative HIV medications — antiretroviral therapy (ART), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) — will not be allowed to make a donation. The FDA said individuals should not stop taking these medications and noted their safety and effectiveness in limiting the spread of HIV. However, their use may cause delays in detecting HIV in blood samples and lead to false negative test negative test results.

The new guidelines suggest a three month deferral from the last use of daily preventative medication and a two year deferral after an individual received a long-acting PrEP injection. The policy also maintains its lifetime deferral from any individual who has taken medication to treat an HIV infection.

The changes have been welcomed, with both organizations aiming to begin implementing the revised guidelines by the end of summer. Rowland mentioned how the Red Cross have been vocally advocating of loosening restrictions for years.

“To finally get this approval is exciting for everyone. This will mean we’re going to have more donors, which means that everyone wins because there’s more blood available and everyone can have that gratification of helping someone else,” Rowland said.

Dr. Chris Lough, Vice President of Medical Services with Lifesouth, said he has heard national reports suggesting anywhere between a 5-10% increase in blood donations. Those numbers, he said, could vary drastically based on any number of factors. Nonetheless, Lough said he welcomes any new donor.

“We’re just hoping for anything more than we have currently and are happy about it from a social perspective as well,” he said.

Lough said blood recipients have little to fear in regard to the updated policy. He said focusing on risk-based practices is a far more effective method to weed out potentially contaminated blood and advancements in testing provides substantial safeguards.

Moore is just pleased to see donations going to the patients in need, regardless of the source.

“Anything that broadens the eligibility to safely donate blood is a wonderful thing for the patients in our hospitals. Period, end of sentence. I don’t care if they’re plum colored,” she said.