New 21-day waiting period to be fully implemented by this Friday for donating blood after travel (OTTAWA, ON) – In response to the recent global outbreak of the Zika virus, Canadian Blood Services is confirming that anyone who has travelled outside of Canada, the continental United States and Europe will now be temporarily ineligible to give blood for three weeks. This new waiting period is currently being implemented across the country and will take full effect in all of our clinics starting on Friday, February 5. While determining what the official deferral period should be, we had asked

(OTTAWA) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today its recommendation that all donated blood in the United States and its territories be tested for the Zika virus. Previously, the FDA had recommended that blood be tested for Zika in areas where there is active spread of the virus among mosquitoes. Now, all states are being asked to test their donated blood for the virus after considering evidence pertaining to its transmission in the U.S. Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec, Quebec’s blood operator, are carefully monitoring the Zika virus in the United States and are

(OTTAWA) – Health Canada has approved Canadian Blood Services’ request to reduce the blood donation waiting period for men who have sex with men from five years to one year. The change will take effect across the country on Aug. 15. Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec, Québec’s blood operator, will make the change at the same time. “This is an exciting, incremental step forward in updating our blood donation criteria based on the latest scientific evidence,” says Dr. Graham Sher, chief executive officer, Canadian Blood Services. “Canadian Blood Services is dedicated to being as minimally

As we continue to monitor the evolution of the Zika virus, we are revising our eligibility criteria for donors to mitigate the risk of the virus entering the Canadian blood supply. Canadian Blood Services will implement a new deferral period for blood, cord blood and stem cell donors who have recently travelled to locations outside of Canada, the United States and Europe. We are working with Health Canada and Héma-Québec to determine the length of the deferral period. In the meantime, we are asking all potential donors who have recently travelled to places outside of those mentioned to