Blood Donation
In honor of January being National Blood Donor Month, I wanted to touch upon why donating blood is an essential public service you can participate in. It’s arguable that donating blood at this time is more critical than ever before.
On any day prior to 2020, donating blood was seen as a life saving service that could be done at the donors convenience, and when shortages arose, drives could easily be facilitated to meet unforeseen demand, such as a natural disaster or mass casualty/injury event. Not only could donations be used for blood transfusions, but donated blood could be broken down into its components for specialized treatments of a variety of illnesses.
Post 2020, donating blood has a whole new purpose in addition to its already life saving status: monoclonal antibodies. This blood component can be amplified and used as an active treatment method for treating actively infectious COVID patients and prevent severe illness and death in a majority of cases. This practice has been around for nearly over a century, and has often been the first line of offensive treatment for viral diseases since the Spanish Influenza in 1919. It’s science is beautiful, and let's dive deeper about how your donation could be used in this timeless life saving treatment.
Monoclonal Antibodies are the antibodies a body reproduces in response to a foreign invader such as a virus. However, when produced naturally they are produced with byproducts and when produced in a lab as true Monoclonal antibodies, they can be multiplied to extremely therapeutic levels for a variety of uses and patient populations.
Today, these antibodies are most commonly used for COVID exposed patients, and those actively infected with severe/ prolonged symptoms or are actively infected and at high risk of severe disease. Administering COVID Monoclonal antibodies directly attach to the COVID virus proteins on the exterior of the virus particle. The protein acts like a key in human cells that open a door for the virus to infect cells, and hijack them to reproduce more infectious cells to promote the viral infection. The antibody acts as a cover for the protein so that the “lock- and- key” mechanism cannot be activated, which slows down and reduces the infection. To see how this works in visual media check out this video here!
The full treatment eligibility criteria vary by state, but you can contact the “Combat COVID Monoclonal Antibodies Call Center” at 1-877-332-6585 to check your individual eligibility status.
The monoclonal antibodies are not replacements for vaccines, nor do they provide the same level of protection for those who receive it.
Studies published in the New England Medical Journal have shown that monoclonal antibody treatment significantly reduces the risk of death and severity of the disease. Continued studies are ongoing as the treatment modality’s use increases.
To make these antibodies outside of the lab, donors are needed. Donate your blood today, ESPECIALLY if you have recovered from COVID infection and are outside of your quarantine period! Your contribution, regardless of COVID infection history, is still a life saving measure, even more useful today than ever!
