Donating blood in Taiwan 🩸

Great!
I’ll try to get to one of them

Nantou

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I went to donate blood a few years ago and was not told I was ineligible due to living in the UK when I was younger, and I filled out all the application forms. Ultimately I could not donate as I had a cold at the time. They should have asked me that first. Strange rule.

Taiwan also basically banned all Europeans (who lived in EU longer than 10 years) due to the outbreak in the UK.

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Strange that they didn’t say I couldn’t donate due to that.

I remember when I first tried to donate blood in New Taipei many years ago and they told me I couldn’t because of Creutzfeldt-Jakob. I think I just stared at them for a full minute before that really registered with me, it seemed so absurd.

And now they’re on PTT complaining about foreigners that shut down over this…obvious thing to them. :grin:

Same.

Even when I told them that I’d never been to the UK and, then again, when the (Taiwanese) person that I was with, who was allowed to donate, said that she’d lived in England for three years.

I tried to donate today but was turned away after registering and answering the questionnaire because I can’t speak Chinese and the doctor didn’t want to deal - despite having somebody there who was translating for me.

They don’t want my blood!

Bilingual Nation by 2030 ™

Have patience! Only 9 years to go… :grin:

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They need all blood types.

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Thanks - good thing to remind people of.

Way up at the top of the page @GooseEgg posted this link for information about donating blood here:

Unfortunately, as @tempogain also highlighted upthread, the following question may disqualify a fair number of forumosans:

QUESTION 24. Had stayed in the UK for a cumulative period of 3 months or more from 1980-1996, or had stayed in Europe for cumulative period of 5 years from 1980 till now? Had received blood transfusion in England or France since 1980?

Personally I’m a too-hesitant and probably disqualifying “Nnnnnoooooo???” on this one, with quite a number of family trips to visit UK family in the 1980-96 time. Probably not three months cumulative, but definitely over a month, likely around two.

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I have mixed feelings about this policy. I have to admit that it feels kind of nice to know that they don’t want my blood, as I can then pretend that I’d be willingly donating if only I had the opportunity while simultaneously playing the victim of discrimination. All the moral superiority with zero effort (and no needles).

It’s kind of like being told you’re ineligible to donate to charity or that the International Panhandlers Union has taken out a restraining order on you.

Fiiine, suit yourself. I’ll keep my blood. :roll_eyes:

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I suck at needles and would spend the whole donation process trembling and nauseous. But, having received the first shot of a vaccine, I’m also feeling pretty lucky right now and kind of wish I could donate.

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Go ahead - I’ll even let you take my slot and donate twice. I feel even more morally superior now. :innocent:

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I had a AZ shot a few weeks ago. If I donate blood it should have some covid19 antibodies.

Do they mark the blood donation as such? Are you allowed to donate if you got vaccinated?

If a recipient is tested for antibodies they will be positive. If they don’t know about the blood donation with antibodies, they might be marked as post covid19 infection and contact tracing will be done.

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