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Bravo’s Andy Cohen, who recently recovered from coronavirus, said his “blood could save a life but instead it’s over here boiling” because rules prevent him from donating plasma as a gay man.
“I wanted to see if there was something that I could do to help people who were infected. I signed up for a program for COVID-19 survivors where you could donate plasma, which is rich in antibodies, to those still battling the virus. I was told that due to antiquated and discriminatory guidelines by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], to prevent HIV, I am ineligible to donate blood because I am a gay man,” Cohen said Thursday on “Watch What Happens Live.”
Cohen said “even the new, relaxed rules require gay men to abstain from sex for three months” before giving blood.
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“No such restrictions exist for people of other sexual orientations,” he said. “This virus is ravaging our planet. The FDA says there is an urgent need for plasma from survivors, all donated blood is screened for HIV and a rapid HIV test can be done in 20 minutes or less. So why the three-month rule?”
Cohen then asked why members of the LGBTQ community are being “excluded from helping out” during a global pandemic.
Andy Cohen attends BravoCon’s ‘Watch What Happens Live’ red carpet event on Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, in New York.
(Jason Mendez/Invision/AP, File)
“Maybe it’s because we’re valuing stigma over science,” he said. “My blood could save a life but instead it’s over here boiling. This pandemic has forced us to adapt in many ways, we’re quarantining, we’re social distancing, we’re wearing masks. Why can’t we adapt when it comes to this rule?”
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The “Watch What Happens Live” host added: “It’s bad enough that quarantine has us wondering what day it is, I’m sitting here wondering what year it is.”
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