News Americas, VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia, Weds. July 16, 2020: Among the members of the Shincheonji Church, 500 people from Shincheonji Church, who have recovered from COVID-19, are donating blood plasma this week.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in cooperation with the Korean Red Cross, set up mobile plasma sites to extract blood plasma from 500 congregation members of Shincheonji who have recovered from COVID-19. This represents a 200% uptick in plasma donations in South Korea. Before the mass donation, South Korean officials reported that about 170 people’s blood plasma were collected nationwide.
In June, 4,000 members of Shincheonji pledged to donate blood plasma. Due to logistical issues, 55 members were able to donate blood plasma before this week. The 500 members’ blood plasma will be procured within the week by using blood donation cars that can extract blood in large quantities. This is thought to be the first round of donations.
Health officials from the Mayo Clinic and U.S. Food and Drug Administration believe that plasma donations may contribute greatly to the treatment of COVID-19 patients as well as contribute to the research and development of novel immunotherapies. Preliminary results of one trial cited by UpToDate, showed a statistically significant rate of improvement in patients treated with donated plasma compared to those who received standard therapies (91% compared to 68% respectively).
The plasma donated by Shincheonji will be used to make similar treatments after clinical trials.
