Blood and Disaster — Supply and Demand

Abstract

Almost immediately after the attacks that struck New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, the federal government and the American Red Cross issued an appeal for blood donors. Nationwide, more than 1 million prospective donors responded to the call and almost 500,000 units of blood were collected for the victims. Yet only 258 units were used. Many of the collected units were unusable.