Health researchers are sounding the alarm after noticing more people refusing life-saving blood transfusions because they come from vaccinated donors.
In a study out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 15 patients or families of patients who needed blood transfusions rejected them because they requested blood from donors who were not vaccinated.
The majority of patients were children or teenagers.
The refusal led one patient to go into shock, another to develop anemia and others to have their surgeries delayed.
Now, doctors involved say they fear more Americans, spurred by vaccine-suspicious health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, will follow.
Over a two-year period, the researchers found requests for non-anonymous – meaning patients can choose specific donors for their transfusion – had increased because the patients specifically wanted blood from unvaccinated individuals.
The patients had told doctors they wanted unvaccinated blood because they believed it was safer, but their exact safety concerns are unclear.
Researchers noted that while the total number of these donations was small, the requests caused delayed care and could have contributed to complications of not receiving a timely blood transfusion, which can include organ failure, stroke and death.
A Vanderbilt University study found an increase in patients asking for unvaccinated blood for blood transfusions (stock image)
In children, delays in blood transfusions can also permanently stunt development or cause severe neurological damage.
The study found that in at least four cases, patients experienced significant medical issues because they or their families wanted to wait for unvaccinated blood.
These effects included one patient doing into shock due to low levels of hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to tissues. Two other patients had to have their surgeries delayed.
‘Despite being framed as “safer,” directed donations may paradoxically increase risk,’ the authors wrote in the journal Transfusion.
Exact figures are unclear, but the study notes that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors across the country have had more requests for unvaccinated donors due to the popular anti-vax belief that Covid vaccinated patients can ‘shed’ mRNA in the shots into their blood.
Some anti-vaxxers also believe receiving blood from a vaccinated donor will cause them to suffer the serious but extremely rare side effects associated with the shot, such as a kind of heart inflammation called myocarditis.
The misinformation has come as RFK Jr has expressed doubts about the safety of Covid vaccines and referred to the shot as ‘the deadliest vaccine ever made.’
However, there is no evidence that being vaccinated against Covid or any other vaccine-preventable illness alters the blood in any significant manner. Blood centers also do not track the vaccination status of donors.
The researchers noted that because donor vaccination status is not tracked, many patients seeking unvaccinated blood will ask from donations from family members or friends who they know are not vaccinated.
The ability to donate blood to a specific person, however, depends on blood type, age and pre-existing conditions such as HIV or AIDS, hepatitis B or C, cancer and blood disorders such as hemophilia.
Directed donation requests can also force hospitals to skimp on or ignore screening processes used to ensure the safety of standard blood donations.
US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy (pictured above) has expressed unfounded safety concerns about Covid vaccines
Scientists have noted there is no evidence that Covid vaccines can shed into blood (stock image)
About 60 percent of the US population is eligible to donate blood, but only three percent donates, leaving the country in a severe blood shortage, according to the American Red Cross. The agency declared a severe shortage in January 2026 after the US blood supply fell 35 percent within a month, which could have been due to this year’s harsh flu season.
In 2023, the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), American Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers issued a joint statement regarding the misinformation surrounding vaccinated blood.
‘Blood donations from individuals who have received a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for use in the US are safe for transfusion,’ the agencies said.
‘Similar to other vaccines such as those for measles, mumps or influenza, COVID-19 vaccines are designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness, but vaccine components themselves do not replicate through blood transfusions or alter a blood recipients’ DNA.
‘In summary, there is no scientific evidence that demonstrates adverse outcomes from the transfusions of blood products collected from vaccinated donors and, therefore, no medical reason to distinguish or separate blood donations from individuals who have received a COVID-19 vaccination.’
