Convalescent plasma has antibodies to the new coronavirus in it, and it could be used to make treatments for severely ill COVID-19 patients. One plasma donation from a COVID-19 survivor could help up to four sick patients.
FDA Urges COVID-19 Survivors to Donate Plasma
THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking Americans who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their blood plasma to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Called convalescent plasma, it has antibodies to the new coronavirus and could be used to make treatments for severely ill COVID-19 patients, FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn explained.
"Prior experience with respiratory viruses and limited data that have emerged from China suggest that convalescent plasma has the potential to lessen the severity or shorten the length of illness caused by COVID-19," Hahn said in an agency news release.