Bill Text: HI SCR33 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Requesting The Blood Bank Of Hawaii To Immediately Adopt The Food And Drug Administration's Updated Guidance, Which Shortens Or Eliminates The Deferral Period For Certain Blood Donors.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-06-06 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06/06/22. [SCR33 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SCR33-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	33
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the Blood Bank of Hawaii to immediately adopt the Food and Drug Administration's updated guidance WHICH shortenS or eliminatES the deferral period for certain blood donors.

 

 

     WHEREAS, due to fears of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, blood bank donations decreased substantially in 2021, resulting in an historic blood inventory shortage in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Blood Bank of Hawaii is the sole provider of blood to the eighteen civilian hospitals in the State and one on Guam; and

 

     WHEREAS, regular blood inventory maintenance requires one hundred and fifty blood donors every day; however, because of the State's blood shortage, the Blood Bank of Hawaii has been forced to undersupply the State's hospitals, leaving them with between sixty and eighty percent of the normal supply; and

 

     WHEREAS, the blood supply shortage is a health crisis and poses a significant risk to those who suffer medical emergencies that require blood transfusions; and

 

     WHEREAS, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the government agency that determines blood donor eligibility requirements; and

 

     WHEREAS, due to the shortage of blood donations nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA revised its blood donor eligibility guidance for several categories of blood donors, which shortened or eliminated completely the deferral period, or the amount of time these donors must wait before donating blood; and

 

     WHEREAS, for male donors who would have been deferred for having sex with another man, the FDA changed the recommended deferral period from twelve months to three months since the donor's last sexual encounter; and

 

     WHEREAS, for female donors who would have been deferred for having sex with a man who had sex with another man, the FDA changed the recommended deferral period from twelve months to three months since the donor's last sexual encounter; and

 

     WHEREAS, for those donors who would have been deferred for tattoos or piercings, the FDA changed the recommended deferral period from twelve months to three months from receiving the tattoo or piercing; and

 

     WHEREAS, for those donors who would have been deferred for traveling to malaria-endemic areas (and are residents of malaria non-endemic countries), the FDA changed the recommended deferral period from twelve months to three months, or no deferral period in certain cases; and

 

     WHEREAS, for those donors would have been deferred for spending time in certain European countries or on military bases in Europe who were previously considered to have been exposed to a potential risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the FDA eliminated its recommended deferrals; and

 

     WHEREAS, the FDA's updated guidance relating to blood donation has been in place since at least August 2020; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Blood Bank of Hawaii states on its website that it "strictly adheres to FDA regulations"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Blood Bank of Hawaii has yet to adopt any of the FDA's updated guidance; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Blood Bank of Hawaii is requested to immediately adopt the Food and Drug Administration's updated guidance, shortening or eliminating the deferral period for certain blood donors; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and Chair of the Blood Bank of Hawaii.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Blood bank; donors; blood disease