Patients in a US hospital system have been making an unusual, and frankly unsettling, request: when they need a blood transfusion, the donated blood should come from someone who hasn’t been vaccinated against covid-19.
Misryoum newsroom reporting describes what happens when those demands collide with how blood services work. Donated blood usually comes from anonymous volunteers, and it is screened for safety—yet in this case, the hospital had to concede to directed donations, which require extra coordination and can slow treatment.
At Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, Jeremy Jacobs and colleagues analysed blood donations between January 2024 and December 2025. They found that 15 patients—or their caregivers—had asked for directed donations. Directed donation means blood is donated by a chosen person, often a relative, rather than being taken from a blood bank.
Misryoum newsroom reported that the requests were specifically about avoiding covid vaccination. The key detail is that the vaccination status of anonymised donors is not recorded or conveyed by blood banks, so the only way to satisfy the request is to bypass the normal route. Jacobs argues that these requests were driven by misinformation about vaccine safety and the blood supply, rather than evidence-based transfusion concerns. And, he adds, there’s no evidence that asking for unvaccinated blood improves transfusion safety.
The trouble wasn’t theoretical. Misryoum newsroom reporting says the directed donation process caused treatment delays that put patients at risk. In the most extreme case, one patient’s level of haemoglobin—a protein that carries oxygen around the body—reached a critical level, which can cause organ injury and failure. Another patient developed anaemia.
Part of the problem is operational. “Directed donation is operationally more complex than using the routine blood supply,” Jacobs says. It involves additional coordination, collection, processing, tracking and timing. And even though blood is carefully screened before transfusion, Misryoum newsroom reporting notes that direct donations have also been linked to a higher infection risk. The reasoning is pretty grimly practical: directed donations are often one-off events, while community blood donors are usually repeat contributors who may be more cautious about their exposure—because they’re part of an established system.
Misryoum newsroom analysis indicates that directed donations aren’t new. The practice spiked during the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the 1980s and early 1990s, then returned with mRNA covid-19 vaccines. Those vaccines work by injecting part of SARS-CoV-2’s genetic code so the body produces a viral protein, prompting the immune system to respond. If the person later catches SARS-CoV-2, the immune response is already primed. Research has repeatedly shown the vaccines are safe and highly effective, but misinformation has wrongly tied them to fertility problems and other health issues. Conspiracy theories have also claimed the vaccines contain a microchip and affect your DNA—claims that have no support.
Still, the issue keeps resurfacing. In 2025, a study confirmed that receiving blood donations from people vaccinated against covid-19 is safe. “Requests for unvaccinated blood reflect broader uncertainty about vaccines among a proportion of the public, rather than any recognised transfusion risk,” says Ash Toye at the University of Bristol, UK. Misryoum newsroom reporting also points to knock-on effects elsewhere: the Welsh Blood Service said last year that people were asking about the vaccination status of blood donors, and there was a rejected petition to split blood donations by vaccination status. In Oklahoma, legislators have proposed mandating patients have access to unvaccinated blood.
So where does that leave clinicians who are trying to do the right thing—quickly, safely, and with real-world constraints? Jacobs frames it as both an evidence problem and a human one. “These requests illustrate how misinformation can create real operational burdens for patients, hospitals and blood providers,” he says. “At the same time, they underscore the importance of addressing patients’ concerns respectfully and thoughtfully, even when those concerns are not supported by evidence.” The next time a transfusion order comes in, the smell of antiseptic in a clinic hallway might be familiar, but the stress around it isn’t. Someone’s life can end up hanging on paperwork and timing that shouldn’t be complicated in the first place—
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