ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The World Health Organization is now recommending against the use of a popular COVID-19 treatment.

Convalescent plasma was one of the first treatments created at the start of the pandemic in an attempt to help the seriously ill. But the WHO now says evidence shows convalescent plasma doesn't improve survival or reduce the need for mechanical ventilation for those fighting COVID-19. 

The convalescent plasma treatment has been popular for the past year and a half, with COVID-19 survivors eager to help others beat coronavirus. 

For James Crocker, back in March 2020, he got seriously sick and later tested positive for coronavirus just as news of COVID-19 was first spreading across the country. As soon as he'd recovered, he said he turned to a then-new form of COVID-19 treatment and started donating convalescent plasma to help others. 

“And a friend of a friend in Orlando had contracted the virus and was on really what they thought was his death bed. And after I donated plasma, he literally had an astounding recovery three days later,” Crocker said. 

Seeing that quick recovery, Crocker jumped into action and began coordinating convalescent plasma donations in Florida and around the country through Plasma For Lives and he said he's seen the success of the treatments in others. 

“You know, I’ll always count my donations and the donations of others who participated alongside me ,as being a valuable part of the fight of this virus,” Crocker said. 

Now, a year and a half into the pandemic, the World Health Organization is now recommending against the use of convalescent plasma except in clinical trials for severe and critical COVID-19 patients.

It comes months after the FDA scaled back its own convalescent plasma emergency use authorization recommendation in February, to cover only those hospitalized early on and those patients whose immune system disorders don’t allow them to produce strong antibody responses.

“Early anecdotal reports showed that it might be useful, but later on, studies have pretty much conclusively shown that it doesn’t delay hospitalizations, it doesn’t prevent going to the ICU, it doesn’t change the rate of dying,” said infectious diseases specialist Dr. Michael Muszynski.

Muszynski said convalescent plasma is expensive to produce and has a shorter shelf life as a blood product. And, he said, it’s not needed as much now because monoclonal antibody treatments have proven much more effective at fighting COVID-19.

“I think across the country, the use of convalescent plasma will decrease or actually cease, especially when we have other therapies that are more effective,” Muszynski said. 

But others like Crocker, who have seen the impact convalescent plasma has had on those battling COVID-19, aren't sure eliminating the treatment is the right call. 

“It seems like there are an abundance of cases where convalescent plasma did make a difference," Crocker said. "And ultimately, I’ll leave that to the medical community to decide."