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Coronavirus & the MHS Response | Coronavirus and the COVID-19 Vaccine | Armed Services Blood Program
The Defense Health Agency’s COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma, or CCP, collection was a significant success in 2020, exceeding its goal and helping more than 200 Department of Defense beneficiaries who had been hospitalized with the deadly disease.
The DOD campaign resulted in the acquisition of 10,745 units of the plasma donated by active-duty personnel, military retirees, their families, and non-DOD civilians who were designated as fully recovered from COVID-19. The goal of the secretary’s campaign, which ended Sept. 30, had been to collect 10,000 CCP units.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) launched this donation drive on June 1 through its more than 20 Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP) centers across the continental United States and overseas to collect plasma to support the development of an effective treatment for those seriously ill with the virus.
As of Nov. 30, 204 patients within the MHS had been transfused 322 units of CCP, said ASBP Division Chief Army Col. Audra Taylor. Typically, one or two units are administered to each patient. At the outset of COVID, when CCP became available as an investigational product by the Food and Drug Administration, the treatment was for severely ill patients.
“Since those early days, the recommendations for treatment are earlier,” Taylor noted.
Almost all patients who require supplemental oxygen now also get CCP, noted Air Force Col. Stacy Shackelford, Joint Trauma System chief.
The immune system of a COVID-19-positive patient creates infection-fighting antibodies contained in their plasma. Plasma with these infection-fighting antibodies is called "convalescent plasma." By donating blood or plasma, a patient who has recovered fully provides CCP rich in antibodies to a sick patient who is still fighting the virus to boost their immune system and help them recover.