Red Cross Notice

Are you a blood donor? Concerned about whether you should donate after having your vaccination or testing positive for COVID?

According to Red Cross, there is no evidence of COVID transmission via blood transfusions. All blood donated in Australia is tested for five infectious diseases that can be passed on to patients through a blood transfusion, notably HIV (AIDS virus), Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. Some donations are also tested for Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), Syphilis and Cytomegalovirus (CMV).

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, donors need to wait 3 days before donating blood, plasma, or platelets. This wait time applies to all COVID-19 vaccinations, regardless of which vaccine you receive. Until now, people who've had COVID had to wait until they were fully recovered plus another 28 days before giving blood. But from Sunday, once you're better you'll just need to wait 7 days before booking an appointment to donate blood.

If you’re unvaccinated, you can still donate blood. Lifeblood currently has no plans to mandate vaccines for donors.

Further information can be found at the Red Cross Lifeblood website https://www.lifeblood.com.au/blood/eligibility/COVID-19-vaccine