Glossary
Re-entry
This is a process that applies to blood donors who have been told that they should not donate blood for someone else, either for a temporary period or for the foreseeable future; i.e., they have been deferred. In general, re-entry is only available to donors with test results that are most likely false positive but disqualify them from donation by regulation. Individual facilities can’t just decide willy-nilly that they want to re-enter donors, however, as the FDA is very clear on who can and who cannot do this. FDA offers structured and specific re-entry pathways for donors with probable false positive results for HIV, hepatitis C virus, and hepatitis B virus. One thing FDA does NOT do is mandate that a blood center MUST reenter eligible donors. That is important, because re-entry is complicated and it usually isn’t the easiest process in the world. Some centers choose to reduce those headaches and do not offer re-entry to their deferred donors, even those who could potentially qualify.
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