Why Can’t You Give Blood After Getting a Vaccine?

If you are like most people, you have heard so much anti-vaccine misinformation that you figure it is safe to assume that everything these folks say isn’t true.

If you are a true skeptic, you will still do your research on any new claims just to make sure.

Why Can’t You Give Blood After Getting a Vaccine?

Although you may not have heard of any restrictions on donating blood after getting vaccinated before, it makes sense once you think of it.

You actually have to wait:

for up to 8 weeks after getting the smallpox vaccine
for up to 4 weeks after getting the MMR (because of the rubella component), chickenpox, and Zostavax vaccines.
for up to 3 weeks after getting the hepatitis B vaccine
for up to 2 weeks after getting the measles, mumps, oral polio, or yellow fever vaccines

If you notice that these are almost all live vaccines, it becomes very easy to see why you can’t donate blood shortly after being vaccinated.

Blood donation is “Acceptable if you were vaccinated for influenza, tetanus or meningitis, providing you are symptom-free and fever-free. Includes the Tdap vaccine. Acceptable if you received an HPV Vaccine (example, Gardasil).”
American Red Cross Eligibility Criteria: Alphabetical

Live vaccines can create a temporary viremia (virus particles in the blood), which could then be transferred to someone else in donated blood.

Could you get an infection this way?

Probably not.

Remember, you would only be getting the attenuated or weakened vaccine virus strain and even then, it would be a very small amount. If the person getting the vaccine doesn’t get sick from getting the vaccine, why would someone who was getting a much smaller dose through a blood donation.

Still, there is a theoretical risk, especially if the person who received the blood donation had an immunodeficiency, so people aren’t supposed to donate blood shortly after getting these vaccines.

But what about the hepatitis B vaccine. It isn’t a live virus vaccine.

The risk with this vaccine is that a very recently vaccinated donor might test positive for HBsAg (this only happens temporarily), leading the donation center to actually think that they had a hepatitis B infection, disqualifying them from ever donating blood again.

Does any of this mean that vaccines aren’t safe?

Of course not!

Just consider some of the other restrictions on donating blood:

You are not eligible to ever donate if you ever tested positive for hepatitis B, even if you were never sick.
You must wait 12 months after your last contact if you were exposed to someone with hepatitis B and you want to donate blood.
If you are unvaccinated, you must wait at least 4 weeks after being exposed to someone with measles.

So yes, that means that you will be much more likely to be eligible to donate blood if you are fully vaccinated and protected.

What’s Your Chance of Getting Measles Right Now?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that a lot of folks are thinking about their risk of getting measles right now.

But with record levels of measles cases this year, some of us are thinking about our level of risk much differently than others.

rIf you are unvaccinated and exposed to someone with measles, you risk is actually 1,000,000 times higher…

While most of us simply want to make sure we are vaccinated and protected, anti-vaccine folks are taking every opportunity to downplay their risks.

What’s Your Chance of Getting Measles Right Now?

So what’s your chance of getting measles?

“Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases. It is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions. The virus remains active and contagious in the air or on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours. It can be transmitted by an infected person from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the rash erupts.”
WHO on Measles

That’s actually not that simple to figure out, but depends on:

Whether or not you are vaccinated and protected, with two doses of the MMR vaccine, and immune to measles.
Your plans to travel out of the country.
How often you are around people who routinely travel out of the country.
How many of your friends and family members are intentionally unvaccinated.

Those who have had two doses, with no plans to travel, and who live in an area with no reported cases, are at extremely low risk to get measles – the risk won’t be zero until measles is eradicated.

In this kind of low risk situation, kids don’t need early doses of MMR vaccines and most adults can probably get away with just having one dose of MMR.

“Measles is highly contagious and spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is so contagious that if one person has it, 9 out of 10 people of all ages around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected.”
CDC on Measles is Highly Contagious

On the other hand, if you are unvaccinated and were at the AMC Theater on Lemon Street in Fullerton, between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. on April 25, then your chance of getting measles is about 90%!

Wait! That’s a little more than the 0.000092% chance that anti-vaccine folks are throwing around…

The odds of being hit by lightning are low because we practice storm safety and don’t run around outside when we see lightning!

To think of it another way, if you knew that your chances of getting hit by lightning were a little over 1 in a million, would that make you think it is okay to go outside and play golf during a severe thunderstorm?

Would you think the risk is so low that you could let your kids play outside if you heard thunder and saw lightning flashes nearby, or would you all rush inside?

That’s right! The risk of getting hit by lightning is low because most of us don’t take chances when we hear thunder or see lightning.

It’s the same with measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

The overall risk is low because most people are vaccinated and protected!

If you aren’t vaccinated and protected, as we see more and more cases, your risk of getting sick, and getting others sick, is going to continue to get higher and will always be much higher than someone who is fully vaccinated, no matter how much you want to believe in shedding, mild measles, or whatever myths help you justify keeping your kids unvaccinated and unprotected during an outbreak.

Remember, you can’t hide in the herd if you are scaring away too much the herd…

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and are obviously necessary.

You can avoid getting measles. — You can greatly reduce your family’s risk of getting measles.

Make sure your family is protected so they don’t get caught up in a measles outbreak

Why Have We Forgotten About the Importance of Vaccination Against Measles?

While most of us know that measles is a serious, life-threatening disease, there are still some folks that want you to think that it is nothing to worry about.

It’s just a rash and fever, right?

The Importance of Vaccination Against Measles

Actually, while most people did recover after having a high fever, irritability, and other symptoms for a week or more, some didn’t. That’s why doctors at the time called it a harmless killer.

In the pre-vaccine era, hospitalizations, tracheotomies, encephalitis, sepsis, death from measles were not rare.

And why many were looking forward to a vaccine to get measles under control, as measles was a leading killer at the time.

Seymour Musiker calls on pediatricians to take action to get more kids vaccinated against measles. — A call for pediatricians to take action to get kids vaccinated against measles.

While measles vaccination was getting off to a slow start at the time, it should be obvious that there was a big need for these vaccines.

“Thus it is up to each one of us to convince our own segment of the population since this seems to be the only way to do it. And it is up to each one of us to remind our fellow physicians to cover his segment of the population.”
Norman Lewak, MD

Fortunately, everyone did finally take action and while it was a little later than originally planned, we got measles under control.

“Vigorous endorsement and execution of this aim by physicians and responsible health authorities should eliminate measles by 1970, and a suitable motto for the five-year period might well be “Mortus a morbilli.”
Lewis L. Coriell, MD

And the endemic spread of measles was eliminated in the United States in 2000.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we eliminated or eradicated measles. It simply means that all cases and outbreaks are linked to someone from outside the United States.

Now, as too many people are either scared or have forgotten about the importance of vaccination against measles, cases are rising, continuing to reach new record levels.

So what’s next?

“All we need is one concerted campaign to get every susceptible vaccinated. One death, one brain-damaged child, or even one child who needs hospitalization is one too many.”
Norman Lewak, MD

Let’s get everyone vaccinated and protected.

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and they are obviously necessary.

Measles is not a mild disease. And it never was.

Is the MMR Vaccine Licensing Being Called into Question?

Why do some folks think that the MMR vaccine licensing is being called into question?

Yup. That’s what the usual suspects are trying to make you think.

Is the MMR Vaccine Licensing Being Called into Question?

Taking advantage of the fact that many sites publish all press releases, these folks want you to think that a major news site is following their latest bombshell, which of course is just another dud.

The MMR was licensed in 1971. The ICAN papers are from 1978…

You mean there really isn’t an FDA coverup?

“Clinical studies of 284 triple seronegative children, 11 months to 7 years of age, demonstrated that M-M-R II is highly immunogenic and generally well tolerated.”
MMR II Package Insert

Not only is the package insert very transparent about the studies used to approve the MMR II vaccine they are talking about, since only a minor change was made to the original MMR vaccine, which was approved in 1971, it isn’t surprising that larger trials weren’t required at the time.

So there were earlier, larger trials?

Yup.

But did they use a saline control group?

Nope.

A Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Study - Stokes et al on Trivalent combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Findings in clinical-laboratory studies. — A Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Study – Stokes et al on *Trivalent combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Findings in clinical-laboratory studies*

The control group was actually unvaccinated.

It is also important to keep in mind that this study, and a few other MMR studies, followed much, much larger studies of the individual measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines.

“The large majority of children in the United States have been vaccinated against measles and a sizable portion have been given mumps and rubella vaccines. It is estimated by us based on vaccination distribution that about 41 million children have received measles vaccine, 7 million mumps vaccine, and 21 million rubella vaccine. The combined triple vaccine provides a simple, safe, and effective immunization procedure using a single vaccine dose against three important diseases in children who have not yet been immunized.”
Stokes et al on Trivalent combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Findings in clinical-laboratory studies.

Much larger double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of the individual measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines.

This is why you don’t routinely do vaccinated vs unvaccinated studies anymore. It is unethical to let kids get measles, mumps, rubella or other diseases.

The bottom line is that the measles (1968), mumps (1967), and rubella (1969) vaccines were safe when they were approved by the FDA.

The MMR (1971) was safe when it was approved by the FDA.

And MMR-II (1978) was safe when it was approved by the FDA.

Since then, there have also been studies showing that getting a second dose of MMR-II is safe and effective and that ProQuad, the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox vaccine is safe and effective, although it is associated with a small increased risk of febrile seizures if given as a first dose.

There is no FDA coverup. No bombshell.

Just anti-vaccine folks continuing to try and scare you away from vaccinating and protecting your kids.

Anti-Vaccine Folks Are Abusing Press Release Distribution Networks

I’m sure you know that anti-vaccine folks push misinformation that scares parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

You may not be aware of one of their techniques.

There was no real mainstream news coverage of the Highwire crew.

Yes, they issue bogus press releases and then make folks think that mainstream news sites are doing feature stories about them, when in reality, these mainstream news sites simply republish every press release they get.

“PR Newswire’s network reaches more than 4,500 U.S. websites, including popular sites such as Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch and Business Journals. Our global network reaches nearly 10,000 websites, portals and databases.”
About PR Newswire

Did you really think that Yahoo! Finance covered a story about an FDA coverup over licensing of the MMR vaccine?

They didn’t. There was no FDA coverup.

In fact, instead of a story by Yahoo! Finance, folks are simply reading a press release that was actually written by the Highwire crew.

Did you fall for this propaganda trick?

If so, then you didn’t learn your lesson when the Weston A Price Foundation got their anti-vaccine press release about shedding published on CNBC way back in 2015.

Have you seen anyone sharing these press releases? Have you seen them reprinted on “mainstream” news sites?

Tell them to stop spreading anti-vaccine propaganda.

More on Anti-Vaccine Propaganda – Abusing Press Release Distribution Networks

VAXOPEDIA – Why Does the BMJ Post Anti-Vaccine Propaganda?
VAXOPEDIA – Johns Hopkins Hospital Warns Patients about Vaccine Shedding
VAXOPEDIA – What’s the Difference Between the MMR and MMR-II Vaccines
VAXOPEDIA – Why Are You Still Worried About the MMR Vaccine?
VAXOPEDIA – Show Me the Vaccine Insert!
VAXOPEDIA – Is the MMR Safe for 6-Month-Old Babies?
VAXOPEDIA – Why You Have No Business Skipping the MMR Vaccine?
VAXOPEDIA – Myths About Warnings and Adverse Reactions in the MMR Package Inserts
CNBC publishes an antivaccine press release from the Weston A. Price Foundation and Leslie Manookian
Why Is CNBC Posting Anti-Vaccination Propaganda?

Do Vaccines Contain Pesticides?

Wait, why would anyone think that vaccines contain pesticides?

Well, you would be surprised about the things that some folks claim are in vaccines, from vaginal spermicides and antifreeze to peanut oil.

Do Vaccines Contain Pesticides?

Who is making these claims?

If you are anti-science, you are probably going to be anti-science all of the way... — That actually makes sense. If you are anti-science, you are probably going to be anti-science all of the way…

The usual suspects have been spreading this anti-vaccine myth for years

Of course, it isn’t true.

Glyphosate, an herbicide, isn’t really in any vaccines.

Neither are any other poisons or toxins.

Vaccines are safe, with few risks.

Did Saint Lucia Quarantine a Scientology Cruise Ship Because of Measles?

We got news today that cruise ship has been quarantined in Saint Lucia.

The Chief Medical Officer of Saint Lucia, Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James is saying that they quarantined the ship because “there are cases of measles on the vessel.”

Which cruise ship?

Did Saint Lucia Quarantine a Scientology Cruise Ship Because of Measles?

She didn’t say…

Surprisingly though, it is really easy to figure out where cruise ships are and to see that there aren’t any ships from the big cruise lines in Saint Lucia right now.

Who is docked in Saint Lucia?

The Freewinds is a “440-foot motor vessel provided a distraction-free environment for parishioners to study and experience the highest level of spiritual counseling available in the Scientology religion.”

The SMV Freewinds, a cruise ship affiliated with the Church of Scientology.

Are Scientologists against vaccination? Would that explain measles cases on their ship, if it is indeed their ship under quarantine?

No, they claim that there is nothing in Scientology that is against vaccines.

Still, there are some rather famous anti-vaccine celebrities who are Scientologists, such as Jenna Elfman, Kirstie Alley, and some others.

Is this the ship under quarantine for measles?

VAXOPEDIA

Why Can’t You Give Blood After Getting a Vaccine?