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Senate committee rejects bill to require labeling of blood donations by COVID‑19 vaccine status
Summary
House Bill 131, which would have required donor disclosure and labeling of blood units for mRNA COVID‑19 vaccine status and allowed non‑emergency patients to request such labeled blood, failed to advance after extensive testimony from hospitals, blood centers and physicians warning of regulatory conflicts and risks to the state blood supply.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee declined to advance House Bill 131 after a lengthy hearing in which blood collection organizations, hospital officials and transfusion‑medicine physicians uniformly warned the proposal could not be implemented under existing federal rules and could jeopardize Idaho’s blood supply.
Representative Bruce, the bill’s sponsor, said HB 131 was intended to protect informed consent and allow non‑emergency patients to request blood that did not come from donors who said they had received an mRNA COVID‑19 vaccine. “I’m not challenging the safety of the vaccination… I’m just saying that people have the right to choose. It’s an informed consent decision,” Bruce told the committee.
Witnesses representing Vitalant and the American Red Cross, plus hospital and blood‑bank physicians, opposed the bill. Michael Martinez, regional director for Vitalant, said the blood‑safety system is regulated as a pharmaceutical supply and does not…
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