Yes or no, depending on the illness. Also applies to illnesses that have been passed through. When you join us, you will be guided through a questionnaire similar to the one used when donating blood. There you can see at a glance what contraindications are. You can also find clues, for example, on this website (In german language): https://www.ichspendeblut.ch/blutspenden/darf-ich-blutspenden.html.
General questions
I am over 65 years old. Can I still donate blood?
As soon as we have our own infrastructure we will have to comply with the legal requirements, i.e., the same conditions will apply as for the current blood donation facilities. In most countries people over 65 can donate blood if they have donated blood before. See this (and other) websites for requirements (In german language): https://www.ichspendeblut.ch/blutspenden/darf-ich-blutspenden.html
The age limit for blood donors is relatively arbitrary and dates from a time when life expectancy was much lower. Of course, we will have to comply with the legal requirements. Often, however, as in the case of the age limit, these are not legal requirements at all, but simply internal instructions that are mistaken for laws. This is then the basis for, e.g., a much too low age limit. Age is not a disease, but a condition that depends on many factors besides the calendar. Have a look at the following link in this context (only in german, use an online-translator):
https://www.aktive-rentner.de/blutspenden-im-alter-was-gibt-es-zu-beachten.html
So, to make it short: I am not going into specific medical conditions at this point, such as diseases passed through and current diseases etc., these can be found sufficiently explained on the Internet (google your condition), and we also ask you when you become a member specifically about the most common contraindications to donating blood – age is clearly not one of them for us. Talk to your doctor if you are not sure. Also specific questions, like whether there will be plasma, immune globulin etc. with us, I will not answer specifically here – you can assume that we will have an offer for every medical case, as soon as they let us.
And yes, absolutely, become a member anyway – ANYONE can become a member with us, and there are unfortunately a surprisingly large number of people who actually can’t donate blood for medical reasons (almost a third of our members) – but they all may come into a situation where they need blood. Should we exclude them from membership? I beg you. We need you not only as a blood donor – we also need your unbowed personality, your great character as one of us – because only thanks to you we can become strong enough to spare our children and children’s children from having to deal with such succinct issues as the free choice of blood donor.
And – just between you and me – I personally am not even sure if I would ever use someone else’s blood if I needed blood. But I’m in this because I would definitely give my blood to anyone who asked me. Even though I’m pretty close to 70 and have never given blood in my life.
I live in the United Kingdom or another country. Can I donate or receive blood there?
Unfortunately, at present, all hospitals and blood donation organizations in Europe (except Italy) still refuse to allow you to choose your own blood donor. For this reason, it is still almost impossible to make or receive a directed blood donation there. Fortunately, this is possible in the US, South America, and Africa. We are working on the rest of the world. We are also working on partnering with doctors in private practice to cover at least some of the cases.
Check back here regularly to see how far we have progressed in this matter.
When and where can I obtain blood from the unvaccinated? (Long version)
In large parts of Africa, South America and in several states of the USA, like Texas, you can already do that today, in the rest of the world it will take a little longer. In terms of timing, we can’t make any promises at all – the more members we have, the faster it will happen – in the best case, sometime this year, but it may also be that our fight will take much longer. When the time comes, we will have plenty of partners (hospitals, labs), where you can donate and receive blood. It is unlikely that the Red Cross, as a monopolist in the matter of blood reserves, will ever give in. As soon as we can achieve politically that also here the free market economy makes competition possible, it looks then clearly better. At the moment you have no choice when it comes to donating blood – either you donate at the Red Cross and your unvaccinated blood ends up in the same package as the vaccinated blood, or you leave it alone and wait until we have an alternative.
When it comes to drawing blood, it looks like this: Our main concern is to be able to provide or broker “unvaccinated” blood to anyone who wants it. The pure mediation part is already a reality, on our website you can find a suitable blood donor (https://safeblood.net/en/search/ or with your country’s address instead of “net”). The problem at the moment is the lack of medical partners (clinics) where you can bring your selected blood donor. We don’t have a single one in Europe yet, but we are in the process of contacting all clinics and expect to have the first partners soon. For Africa, the USA and Mexico we will provide a list of partners soon.
The creation of an effective blood bank is at the moment still a dream for the future, because as long as we cannot prove scientifically that “our blood” (once we will have blood banks) comes from unvaccinated people – the operation of such a blood bank is absolutely pointless – it would be closed on the first day. The procedure here is therefore first to create a scientifically recognized test (dark field microscopy is perfectly sufficient for us, but not for the legislator) and only then to build up the infrastructure. In the first step we therefore concentrate on the mediation and the pressure on hospitals in order to achieve that they (again) allow the free choice of the blood donor. Before Corona, this was possible without any problems, and we want to achieve this state again.
There is always a “work around”, if the straight way is not possible, and in this case we will simply declare “our” blood as “blood from safeblood members”, and not declare it “unvaccinated”, which is good enough for us, and this way we will not be in conflict with any law.
So what do I advise you to do at this moment when you need blood immediately? We recommend making a living will in which you write that “for personal reasons you do not want canned blood.” Don’t write a word about vaccination and the like, and don’t give any other information except just “personal reasons.” Write further that you indicate a relative (if you have one) as a potential blood donor who can be contacted immediately (or who is present in person at a scheduled surgery) who has the same blood type. If you do not have a relative, write to us immediately (as a member go to https://safeblood.us/en/search/ and press the black “blood donor request by email” button) when the hospital gives the green light to your plan – then we will find one. At the moment, however, it is actually not advisable to come out as an opponent of vaccination, because then you are immediately “the enemy”, and no one is interested in helping you. Once we are well known as an organization and have a really strong position, you will then be able to say “I am a member of safeblood and my membership card (https://safeblood.us/en/member-card-example/) says what to do in such a case”. Once we have a large presence in most countries, there will be no getting around us – and let me tell you, we are well on our way to achieving that goal. Thanks to people like you.
However, if you like to stand up for your position, you may already say “I am a member of safeblood, and the QR-code on my member card brings you directly to my living will, with clear instructions for the medical professionals” – and you don’t have to explain any further. If you are brought to a hospital and are unconscious, the medics will search for instructions and find your member card in any case.
Is there a hospital that will let me choose the blood myself?
At the moment we cannot give you any exact information. None of the hospitals we have contacted has confirmed this. Nobody wants to go out on a limb here. We recommend that you make a living will in which you refuse blood donations. No hospital will publicly agree to this, but it is conceivable that one or the other will tacitly accept. It is best to ask several hospitals before a planned procedure. If you do this, it is best not to mention at all that it has to do with vaccination – you simply state “personal reasons”, you do not need to explain them further. If you out yourself as a vaccination opponent you are immediately in a worse position. There are currently several initiatives and projects for a private hospital by corona measures critics and advocates of holistic medicine. It is only a question of time until such a hospital comes into being, and then we will have “our own”, so to speak, and the problems will be solved. Other hospitals will then (have to) follow suit.
Where can I donate blood? (Short version)
At the moment, you can only do so at established institutions like the Red Cross. We will have to set up our own infrastructure, since both the Red Cross and the hospitals have not signaled any interest in working with us. I have written to the SRC and all the hospitals in Switzerland (and at the moment we do this in all the countries where we have members) and have not received a single positive response. If you only want to donate blood if the blood of the unvaccinated is labeled as such and later administered as such (which is what many unvaccinated people want), you currently have no choice but to wait until we have our own infrastructure with the necessary permits.
Since our first step is to focus on blood matching, you do not need to donate blood “in stock”. We will contact you directly when we need blood from you for one of our members.