(St. Francois County, MO.) The American Red Cross now has an emergency shortage of convalescent plasma – a type of blood donation collected from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 containing antibodies that might help patients who are actively fighting the virus.
Since April, thousands of COVID-19 survivors have given convalescent plasma, enabling the Red Cross to collect and distribute over 20,000 lifesaving convalescent plasma products nationwide, including 450 in Missouri and 660 in Illinois.
Individuals who have fully recovered and received a verified COVID-19 diagnosis are urged to sign up to give convalescent plasma now by completing the donor eligibility form at RedCrossBlood.org/plasma4covid
The plasma that is collected from patients who have recovered from an infection has antibodies that might help fight that infection - in this case, those who have fully recovered from COVID-19. With each donation, COVID-19 survivors have a unique ability to help up to three patients recover from the virus.