The Resiliency of the Nations Blood Supply

Every day in the United States, more than 40,000 blood products – red cells, platelets and plasma – are needed in hospitals, surgical centers and emergency facilities to help save and improve lives. These blood products are collected from generous volunteer donors, but COVID-19 has shifted how blood services organizations, like Vitalant, connect with donors to ensure blood supplies are sufficient every day.

For Vitalant and other blood services organizations, most volunteer blood drive hosts have typically been schools, churches, businesses and other organizations. During the early days of COVID-19, as organizations adjusted to operating remotely, face-to-face blood drives were no longer an option. And few of the organizations still gathering were allowing off-site individuals onto their grounds, including blood center staff.

In the following months, as Americans grew accustomed to masks and more people received vaccines, blood donors slowly returned to donation centers. But donation rates continue to ebb and flow as unpredictably as COVID-19 itself, making it a challenge to maintain a steady supply for healthcare providers. In fact, this past winter, our country experienced historic blood shortages.

Even now, blood drives have not returned at the same pace or frequency. While there has been progress with scheduling new blood drives, the number of blood donations given at community blood drives is far below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, approximately 60 percent of all Vitalant blood donations came from community blood drives; today, only about 50 percent do. This means that for many blood donors, there may no longer be a convenient donation location because ofthese shifts.

Healthcare organizations and their patients depend on a safe and available blood supply for emergencies, as well as everyday procedures and therapies. Blood donation is often considered to be the “backbone” of our healthcare system. While many healthcare organizations host blood drives, there is also ample opportunity to strengthen the resiliency of the blood supply. 

Employer-hostedblood drives are paramount for adding needed capacity to the blood donation pipeline. They can also be a meaningful addition to corporate social responsibility efforts as the “Great Resignation” and pandemic fatigue continues to challenge organizations.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 precautions are unlikely to fully relax soon, so blood drives remain difficult. In response to these challenges, Vitalant created Virtual Blood Drives, an online program (vitalant.org/virtual-blood-drive) that allows organizations to motivate their employees and supporters to give blood at donation centers or other nearby blood drives. (Organizations outside of Vitalant’s service area can locate their nearest blood center for more information at aabb.org.)

Blood donation arose as a civic duty in the 1940s during WWII. Our nation’s people found a collective cause to rally behind in donating blood plasma for soldiers fighting overseas. It’s that historic American spirit and sense of community that’s needed now to avert shortages and ensure that lifesaving blood is available every day, whenever and wherever it’s needed.