If you have fully recovered from COVID-19, please consider donating plasma. You may have antibodies in your plasma that attack the virus and you may be eligible to donate convalescent plasma for patients with COVID-19.
In order to donate covalescent plasma you must qualify for blood donation. Please review the Eligibility and Donor Self-Screening Information.
If you qualify to donate, please email: donateplasma@mednet.ucla.edu and include:
Please note that we can only accept plasma donations after you have been completely well with no symptoms for at least 28 days and at this time we can only collect plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients from people who had a positive test for COVID-19 *(e.g. PCR - a type of laboratory test to confirm infection and/or have a positive test for COVID-19 antibodies). There may be a backlog of individuals who want to donate plasma, so if you do not hear from us immediately don't worry, we will reach out when there is an opportunity for you to contribute.
Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of blood collected from patients who have recovered from an infection. Antibodies are special proteins in the plasma that have the potential to be used to fight the infection.
There is currently no approved treatment for COVID-19. Convalescent plasma is being investigated for the treatment of COVID-19 because there is some information gained from prior scientific studies to suggest it might help individuals recover from COVID-19. Further investigation is still necessary to determine if convalescent plasma might shorten the duration of illness, reduce morbidity, or prevent death associated with COVID-19.
It is not known if convalescent plasma will be an effective treatment against COVID-19. Plasma transfusions are generally safe and well-tolerated by most patients but can occasionally cause allergic reactions and other side effects. It is also not known whether patients with COVID-19 will have other types of reactions to convalescent plasma.
While it is not known if convalescent plasma is safe and effective against COVID-19, there is anecdotal evidence to support that convalescent plasma is safe for patients. Because there are no approved treatments, FDA is permitting the emergency investigational use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 under the criteria of the emergency IND or Investigational New Drug.
Yes. However, COVID-19 convalescent plasma may be collected from individuals only if they are recovered and eligible to donate blood. Individuals must have had a prior diagnosis of COVID-19 documented by a laboratory test and meet other laboratory criteria. Individuals must have fully recovered from COVID-19, with complete resolution of symptoms for at least 28 days before donation of convalescent plasma.
We ask blood donors and our own staff to stay home if they are not feeling well. Our blood collection sites are taking the following safety measures to help protect our staff and our donors:
No. Donating blood is safe. We always use new, sterile needles that are discarded after use.
No, you are not eligible to donate if you’re experiencing a fever, cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms.
All donated blood, even donations from repeat donors, is tested for blood type, hepatitis, HIV, syphilis, and other transfusion transmissible diseases.
There is no evidence that coronaviruses are transmitted by blood transfusion. Furthermore, pre-donation screening procedures are designed to prevent donations from people who are experiencing symptoms of respiratory illnesses.
Normally, we welcome children that come with their parents, but as we are trying to manage donor spacing, please leave your children at home.
For more information please refer to the FDA Information for Investigational COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Website
The UCLA Blood & Platelet Center does NOT test for COVID-19
