United States: Blood shortage so severe that it became difficult to provide enough blood to some hospitals for patients, said the American Red Cross.
The executive medical director for the American Red Cross, Eric Gehrie said, “In more extreme situations,” shortages may result in “cancellation of surgeries,” including heart surgeries when hospitals and doctors don’t believe they have enough blood to safely operate, as per the USA Today reports.
Gehrie stated that the Red Cross has about 300,000 fewer donors than it did in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 and less blood donations
The Red Cross said the shortage of donations had reached a crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the blood donation organizations, this is a more challenging era for collecting blood due to changes since the pandemic. Employer-based blood drives are becoming a less robust source of blood donations as more Americans work from home. And fewer high schools and colleges are holding blood drives for eligible students, USA Today reported.
Christine Foran, director at New York Blood Center, which supplies hospitals in New York City and surrounding communities said, “The pandemic has really taken a toll on our blood donations,” and added further, “Society has changed.”
Red Cross declared an Emergency!
The officials at the Red Cross society have described the shortage as an emergency because it has the potential to disrupt care.
Gehrie said, “Emergency means that hospitals are requesting blood from the American Red Cross,” and added further, “And we don’t have enough blood to meet their patient’s needs.”
According to USA Today, the Red Cross collected around 4.4 million blood and more than 1 million platelet donations from more than 2.4 million donors in 2023. The organization supplied 6.2 million blood products to 2,500 hospitals.
In 2022, the organization’s tax filing showed it collected “biomedical services” revenue of nearly $1.9 billion on expenses or more than $2 billion.
The data has reflected a much lesser count as compared to pre-COVID time, said Gehrie. The organization’s donations are at their lowest level in 20 years and have become especially strained in the new year, USA Today reported.
Red Cross and other blood collection centers typically see blood inventories shrink in January. Donors are often busy during the holidays and may have little extra time to donate.
And respiratory viruses such as the flu and COVID-19 ramp up during the winter, keeping some donors home while they recover.
Red Cross also announced it have about 7,000 fewer blood units than needed in the past couple of weeks. This reflects that hospitals must rely on their own blood banks to fill that gap.
Red Cross officials said hospitals would need more blood throughout the month and supplies would be stressed because of the winter hiatus in donations, USA Today reported.
About the American Red Cross
The American Red Cross is the Washington DC-based nonprofit organization, which collects and distributes bout 40 percent of the nation’s blood donations. And the emergency shortage means some patients might get less blood than they need or hospitals may struggle to find suitable matches for patients with rarer blood types, as per the reports by USA Today.
This isn’t the first time for shortage
The Red Cross called on the public to replenish receding blood donations, and this is not the first time.
Red Cross warned about critically low blood supplies last summer when storms and vacation travel disrupted normal collections.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Cross said the shortage of donations had reached a crisis, USA Today reported.
According to experts, other blood donation organizations also reported that they were running low on their inventories, however didn’t quite say the situation was an emergency.
Need for diverse donors, blood types, and platelets
According to the USA Today reports, supplies of different types of blood- A, B, O, and AB vary from region to region across the country.
Foran said her group has shortages of B-negative and O-negative, which is known as the universal blood type and the most commonly transfused when a patient’s blood type is unknown. Just 7% of the population has O-negative blood.
Gehrie from the Red Cross said around every hospital needs Type O blood and platelets.
Gehrie further stated, “One of the main hopes we have from this public outreach is to be able to increase our inventory of group O red cells and platelets.”
According to a USA Today report, Kate Fry, CEO of America’s Blood Centers said blood donation groups said they need more donors from non-white communities. Communities of color generate about 20% of blood donations.
She further described that in addition to the major blood types, there are hundreds of antigens for red blood cells, some of which are unique to racial and ethnic groups. Some patients who need frequent transfusions to treat hereditary diseases such as sickle cell are more likely to build antibodies, and such patients are more likely to need a more precise blood match.