The impact of COVID-19 on blood donations

Indeed, individuals show higher willingness to help after a disaster. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presents significant differences as it is an ongoing crisis that affects all individuals and has the potential to pose a direct health threat to anyone.

Therefore, we propose that the pandemic may also negatively affect willingness to help, specifically blood donation intentions. It requires a high level of willingness to donate blood beyond the crisis outbreak, as more blood will be 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 in Germany during the first pandemic phase (April to June 2020), we find lower medium and long-term blood donation intentions.