Coronavirus survivors should donate blood, medics say

The NHS are asking men in Southport who have recovered from coronavirus, to donate blood plasma.

Doctors leading the NHS Blood and Transplant have made the urgent appeal because there is currently a shortage of male donors in Merseyside.

In and around the areas of Liverpool, more than 6,102 people have volunteered to donate blood plasma after recovering from COVID-19. However only 33% of these volunteers are male, despite men being more valuable donors.

A man booked in to donate for the first time is three times more likely to give a high antibody unit of plasma than a woman booked in to donate for the first time.

This is partly because men generally produce more anti- bodies, because on average
they are more seriously affected by the virus.

Men also generally have larger veins and a larger volume of blood in their cir- culation, meaning they are more likely to meet the donation criteria.
Plasma from people who have recovered can be transfused into people who are still unwell and struggling to develop their own immune response.

The plasma contains neut- ralising antibodies which could stop the virus spread- ing and save lives.

Donation takes about 45 minutes. Your body usually replaces the plasma you’ve donated in 24-48 hours. Your body quickly replaces the donated antibodies and people can donate plasma as often as every two weeks.

You can offer to donate plasma at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk.