The Impact of COVID-19 On Blood Donations

During a crisis society calls for individuals to take prosocial actions that promote crisis management. Indeed, individuals show higher willingness to help after a disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, presents significant differences, as it’s a long-term crisis that affects every individual, and poses a direct health threat. Therefore, we propose that the pandemic negatively affects willingness to help, specifically blood donation intentions. It requires a high level of willingness to donate blood beyond the crisis outbreak, as more blood is needed when postponed surgeries resume. When comparing blood donation intentions from a pre-pandemic study to results from a six-wave (bi-weekly) panel study conducted during the first pandemic phase (April to June 2020) in Germany, we find lower blood donation intentions, especially in the medium and long term. While active donors show increased awareness of ability and eligibility to donate at the beginning of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic, they feel significantly less able to donate as the pandemic progresses. The perceived ability to donate of inactive donors significantly decreases in the pandemic phase compared to the pre-pandemic phase. Crucially, both active and inactive donors feel less responsible and less morally obliged to donate, leading to an overall negative pandemic effect on blood donation intentions. The COVID-19 pandemic compromises blood donations endangering the life-saving blood supply. These alarming results offer evidence-based grounds for practical implications on driving donations in the event of a pandemic.