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On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced during a White House press conference that the FDA had approved the use of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus for emergency use.
“This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection,” Trump said.
“It’s had an incredible rate of success,” he added.
With this new treatment, convalescent plasma is taken from blood donated from those who have contracted and recovered from coronavirus.
FDA guidelines categorize convalescent plasma as an “investigative product.”
President Trump announced that things have changed regarding any hold-ups with this new treatment.
“We broke the logjam over the last week,” Trump said when asked about how hard it often is to get FDA approval for certain treatments.
The president said his administration's "Operation Warp Speed" is what made this development a reality.
“It is only made possible because of Operation Warp Speed," the president said. "That is, everybody working together,”
“We are removing unnecessary barriers and delays, not by cutting corners, but by marshaling the full power of the federal government,” he said.
Before announcing the new FDA approval, Trump jabbed the media with the line, "I hope you had a great weekend at YOUR convention."
Dr. Steven Hahn, who helped lead the project and who the president thanked personally, said of the research, “This is one of the largest expanded access programs in the history of FDA, so a very successful approach to evaluating how convalescent plasma would work.”
Dr. Hahn also encouraged those who have contracted coronavirus in the past but have since recovered to please donate blood.
“If you’ve recovered from Covid-19, please donate, you could save a life,” the doctor said.