People refuse blood transfusions from donors vaccinated against covid

A US hospital had to accept an unusual request from patients needing blood transfusions: that they come from donors who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. This led to a delay in treatment, resulting in a life-threatening reaction in one individual.

“These requests are often driven by misinformation about the safety of the vaccine and the blood supply, rather than evidence-based concerns about blood transfusions,” says Jeremy Jacobs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. “I think one of the most important broader points is that the community blood supply is already highly regulated and carefully screened, and there is no evidence that asking for unvaccinated blood improves transfusion safety.”

Jacobs and his colleagues analyzed blood donations that took place at the Vanderbilt center between January 2024 and December 2025. They found that 15 patients—or their caregivers—requested directed donations, where blood is donated by a designated person, often a relative, rather than drawn from a blood bank.

Directed donations are only allowed in the UK and Australia in exceptional circumstances, such as if a person has a rare blood type and no suitable blood bank donor is available. In the US, the practice is more widely permitted but not recommended, with policies varying widely between centers.

The researchers found that all 15 patients referred donations because they wanted blood from a donor they knew had not been vaccinated. This was specifically against covid-19, says Jacobs. The vaccination status of anonymous donors is not recorded or transmitted by blood banks.

These requests led to treatment delays that put patients at risk. In the most extreme case, the patient’s hemoglobin level—the protein that carries oxygen around the body—reaches a critical level that can cause organ injury and failure. Another patient developed anemia.

“Directed donation is operationally more complex than using a routine blood supply,” says Jacobs. “This requires additional coordination, collection, processing, tracking and time.”

Although blood is carefully screened before transfusion, direct donations are also associated with a higher risk of infection. This is because they are often given on a one-off basis, rather than coming from repeat donors in the community who may be known to blood banks and may be particularly wary of exposing them to infection.

Direct donations increased during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s, but they increased again when the covid-19 vaccines became available. They involve injecting a piece of SARS-CoV-2’s genetic code into someone so that their cells produce one of its proteins. Their immune system then reacts and destroys the cells with this protein. If the individual later catches SARS-CoV-2, their immune system kicks in to fight it.

Research has repeatedly shown that these vaccines are safe and highly efficientbut misinformation incorrectly associates them with fertility problems and others health questions. Conspiracy theories even falsely claim that these vaccines contain a microchip and affect your DNA.

In 2025 a study confirmed that receiving blood donations from people vaccinated against covid-19 is safe. “Demands for unvaccinated blood reflect a wider uncertainty about vaccines among a section of the public than any recognized risk of transfusion,” says Ash Toye at the University of Bristol, UK.

And the problem doesn’t just affect Vanderbilt’s downtown. The Welsh Blood Service said last year that people ask about the vaccination status of blood donors. There was also a rejected petition to the UK government for partition blood donation by vaccination status. But in Oklahoma, lawmakers proposed making it mandatory for patients access to unvaccinated blood.

“These requests illustrate how misinformation can create real operational burdens for patients, hospitals and blood providers,” says Jacobs. “At the same time, they highlight the importance of addressing patient concerns with respect and consideration, even when those concerns are not supported by evidence.”