Coronavirus plasma treatment approved for emergency use, but questions remain

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma, an experimental treatment option which utilizes blood from patients who have recovered from COVID-19, opening up access as clinical trials of the treatment continue. 

Alex Azar, the U.S. health and human services secretary, said during a White House press briefing on Sunday that the treatment has been delivered to more than 70,000 American patients so far. The treatment, according to the FDA's evaluation, "may be effective in lessening the severity or shortening the length of COVID-19 illness in some hospitalized patients."