Blood donation campaign by NSS units of Vidya

The NSS units of Vidya initiated a campaign for encouraging blood donation by youngsters specifically before getting vaccinated for COVID-19.  The campaign was planned on the basis of an order recently issued by the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) saying that a person can’t donate blood “28 days post-vaccination after the last dose of COVID-19 vaccination”. The same order requires people who have received Covaxin to wait at least 56 days to donate blood, and those who received Covishield, up to 70 days. Also, there is a steep decline in the units of blood collected and in the number of blood camps since the national lockdown that began in March 2020. NSS volunteers created posters detailing this matter and shared through social media that motivated many youngsters to donate blood before vaccination.