Donating Blood Plasma

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We understand how relieved you must be to have overcome a diagnosis of COVID-19. No one should face such uncertainty. Now that you are fully recovered, you can help children fight COVID-19 by donating blood plasma at CHOC.

While researchers are still learning about the disease, it’s possible that those who have recovered from COVID-19 have produced antibodies to protect them from the infection. If so, your plasma would contain these antibodies and may be helpful in the treatment of COVID-19 disease in others.

Registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the CHOC Blood Bank is available to collect and process plasma donations from COVID-19 survivors. These donations can be used for patients at CHOC.

Donating plasma is safe and easy – similar to donating blood. If you meet the eligibility requirements, call the CHOC Blood Bank at 714-509-8339 for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Eligibility Requirements

Potential plasma donors must meet the following requirements:

  1. Donors must be at least 18 years of age.
  2. Donors, vaccinated and unvaccinated, must have been sick with COVID-19 after December 1, 2021.
  3. Donors can be male or female. Female donors must be negative for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies.
  4. Donors must be able to provide FDA-approved laboratory Nasal Pharyngal – PCR test results confirming COVID-19 diagnosis.
  5. Donors must have been symptom-free for at least 10 days prior to donation.
  6. Donors will be tested for COVID-19 antibodies before scheduling a donation. This can be done at the CHOC Lab or the donor may provide results from another Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified lab.
  7. Donors must meet all other blood donor qualifications (e.g., age, weight, etc.).

Call the Blood Bank at 714-509-8339 for further explanation of these requirements.

Learn more about this investigational treatment

In addition to donated plasma supporting patients throughout the community, CHOC clinicians will use these donations as part of an investigational treatment to treat pediatric patients with COVID-19. Because of that, CHOC aims to infuse pediatric patients that meet specific criteria with plasma donated by patients who have fully recovered from COVID-19. Though researchers are still learning about the disease, it is likely that their plasma contains antibodies to prevent future infection. This – called passive immunity – could help prevent infection in the patient who receives the infusion. The use of convalescent plasma has been used successfully for other illnesses, but has not yet been approved for use in patients with COVID-19. So, this is considered an investigational treatment that must be approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on an individual basis.