> The blood bank “profits” from every donation. That’s what a donation is. This especially applies for plasma donations, even though plasma donors (often poor

> The blood bank “profits” from every donation. That’s what a donation is. This especially applies for plasma donations, even though plasma donors (often poor people, and predominantly in the US) are paid for their donations (although a meager amount considering what is involved along with the side effects of plasmapheresis). Basically the US effectively supplies the majority of blood products for the world, and plasma is a precious human resource. The US also has extremely lax rules on plasma donation. There have been scandals relatively recently around paid plasma, where Mexican nationals on visitor visas cross the border 2-3 times a week to do this. The donations can in some cases be enough income to get by in Mexico (or so I heard, but probably not well). This is important due to cartel violence, as it is considered to be "safer". However, watch the video on this page which details the scandal: https://www.propublica.org/article/pharmaceutical-companies-are-luring-mexicans-across-the-u.s.-border-to-donate-blood-plasma https://www.propublica.org/article/pharmaceutical-companies-... The 2 main people in this video, Mexican nationals, ended up having severe health effects from the frequent (and legal) plasma donation route. In fact, the female in the video literally had a secondary immune deficiency from donating plasma so much, and if she continues (she was advised not to, by a Mexican doctor) she definitely can end up with a primary immune deficiency and other severe health problems. Sure, plasma donations are necessary (I require a blood product due to a rare neurological disease affecting my peripheral nervous system) but it is some really sad stuff, too. > If you’re asking if they specifically test plasma for COVID-19 antibodies and scalp it to brokers Sometimes these plasma companies do test regular donors for certain (often rare) antibodies, such as for whatever shot that is given to Rh negative mothers who are pregnant with a child that could be Rh positive.