Eligibility

Age And Weight

You must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. There is no maximum age or weight limit for donation.

Donors 18 years of age or younger must also meet additional height and weight requirements for whole blood donation (applies to girls shorter than 5'6" and boys shorter than 5').

Travel

If you’ve traveled to a country where malaria is found in the past 12 months, you may not be eligible to donate. Before you donate a nurse will go over any traveling you’ve done outside of the US or Canada to ensure that there are no issues.

Tattoos and piercings

For tattoos, you must wait three months if the tattoo was applied in a state that does NOT regulate tattoo facilities. Currently, the only states that DO NOT regulate tattoo facilities are the District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming. This requirement is related to concerns about hepatitis. Learn more about hepatitis and blood donation.

A tattoo is acceptable if the tattoo was applied by a state-regulated entity using sterile needles and ink that is not reused. Cosmetic tattoos (including microblading of eyebrows only) applied in a licensed establishment in a regulated state using sterile needles and ink that is not reused is acceptable. You should discuss your particular situation with the health historian at the time of donation.

For piercings, donation right away is acceptable as long as the instruments used were single-use equipment and disposable (which means both the gun and the earring cassette were disposable). Wait three months if a piercing was performed using a reusable gun or any reusable instrument.

Wait three months if there is any question whether or not the instruments used were single-use equipment. This requirement is related to concerns about hepatitis. Learn more about hepatitis and blood donation.

Medication

Almost all medications won’t disqualify you from donating. Click here to see a list of ones that will.

Sickness

If you don’t feel well, have a fever or are having trouble breathing through your mouth, wait to donate until those symptoms go away.

Individual donor assessment (IDA) policy

The previous MSM (men who have sex with men) policy has been replaced with the Individual Donor Assessment (IDA) approach, which is a more inclusive and equitable blood donation policy. All blood donors are required to fill out a donor history questionnaire before each donation in order to confirm that they meet FDA eligibility criteria.

The following excerpt from the Red Cross website details the new policy: “Under the FDA’s individual donor assessment eligibility criteria, the donor history questionnaire is gender-neutral and all donors will answer the same questions regardless of gender or sexual orientation. This includes sexual behavior questions to assess individual risk factors. Any individual, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, who has had new or multiple sexual partners in the last three months, and also had anal sex in that timeframe, will be asked to wait three months to donate blood from last anal sex contact.”

If you would like to participate in any Blood Battles but are ineligible for any reason please reach out to us for volunteering information through the Get Involved tab or fill out the contact form to get more information.

Donation Intervals

• Whole Blood: 8 Weeks

• Power Red: 16 Weeks

• Platelet: 7 Days

COVID-19 Vaccines

Vaccine Guidelines via The American Red Cross:

• If you’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine, you’ll need to provide the manufacturer's name when you come to donate

• There is no deferral time for eligible blood donors who are vaccinated with a non-replicating inactivated or RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca, Janssen/J&J, Moderna, Novavax, or Pfizer

• Eligible blood donors who received a live attenuated COVID-19 vaccine or do not know what type of COVID-19 vaccine they received must wait two weeks before giving blood

• Donors who have previously been infected with COVID-19 are eligible to donate given that they are in good health at the time of donation

If you have any further questions the Red Cross has a more extensive list of eligibility requirements and frequently asked questions on their website.