Men who have sex with men (MSM) should be allowed to donate blood if they haven’t had sex the previous year—that was the recommendation of a panel of doctors and blood-donor advocates that advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reports Bloomberg.

Currently, MSM are not allowed to donate blood if they’ve had sex with men anytime since 1977. This new recommendation marks the first time the panel voted to at least partially end the ban.

The panel voted 16–2 for this recommendation on November 13. Another group of advisers—one that meets with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—will take this recommendation into account when it meets December 2. The FDA is not obligated to follow advice from either panel.

If the ban were completely lifted, Bloomberg reports, 360,00 men would likely donate 615,300 pints of blood a year, which would help 1.8 million people.