Plasma donation from those who have had the virus

[peridito]

I recall Matt Hancock being televised giving plasma but there's been no drive to get people to volunteer for this .

I'm sure there are reasons ...what do people think ? Lack of staff ? Need to screen/process the plasma ? ..

You get a text asking you to sign up following a positive result. So it’s not publicised it’s personalised to those who’ve had verified covid.
If they publicised it they’d probably get the eleventy-million people off here that think they had covid or have had it three times etc 🙄

Existing blood donors have all been contacted about it too

Oh I see ,thanks Isadora .Good point about targetting those who have tested positive .

Theres also quite tight criteria. Eg as a woman who is 5" 2 I was told I would have to weigh nearly 13 stone to give plasma.

I didn’t qualify. They asked for my height and weight.
I was contacted after I had my positive result.

DH has been contacted by text, but was told to wait at least a month as he is only just out of hospital. He will be donating when able.

Yes, I was just looking into this, I am 5ft 3 and weigh 11 and half stones. Its says I do not have enough blood to donate plasma, I find that kind of shocking, is this correct?

Interesting .Presumably men are more likely to match the required height/weight ratio .And not present as overweight .Matt Hancock doesn't look to be carrying excess weight .

@Athinginitself

Theres also quite tight criteria. Eg as a woman who is 5" 2 I was told I would have to weigh nearly 13 stone to give plasma.

Yes, many women are excluded. They mustn't have a huge need for it or they could take a smaller donation.

I tried as I had positive antibodies but my veins are not good enough for plasma. Dh has indicated that he may have antibodies but they have not got back in touch with him.

I had a text asking me to consider donating. You have to wait a certain time period after a positive test (can’t remember exactly how long). I will look into it but from comments above I suspect I might not be able to as dont think I will weigh enough?

I'm looking into this now. In my case the problem may be that I'm anaemic- they put most of the red blood cells back but not all - so not sure I'll be accepted.

I had the text asking me to consider donating. I’m still Don’t feel well enough though.

I just checked for me, I'm 5'10" and only need to weight 10 stone 3 or more. So I'm guessing it's based more on overall "mass" than BMI.

Yes its basically your blood volume they are wanting to calculate.

Dp is 6" 1 and 17 stone. They rang him yesterday to discuss donating and he's now going on monday.

I'm 5'4" and needed to be 23 stone so I guess there are bands. Happily in my case this is not a problem.,.

13 stone not 23! That would be a problem in so many ways!