Impact of COVID-19 on the Cord Blood Banking Industry

No industry was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in late 2019 and continues through today. The sectors hit the most were manufacturing industries, logistical industries, and of course most health industries. The best cord blood banks, like HealthBanks.us, had some disruptions; however, they were agile and able to adjust to the new situations brought about by the pandemic in order to minimize the effects to their bottom lines—and to their ability to help clients store cord blood effectively and affordably.

Impacts on Client Uptake

A large issue with the covid-19 pandemic was the effect on the economy, and a general reduction in spending power for many people. Those with newborns could suddenly have found themselves with less income to spend, and this resulted in a reduction in new parents using blood cord bank services. Although, for the best cord blood banks, generally the reduction of new clients only hit between 10-20%. As cord blood services have become more affordable, most that were planning to store cord blood still used the services.

The increased measures of protections in hospitals also may have led to fewer clients; however, in most hospitals, the collection of cord blood was still allowed by trained professionals for shipment to cord blood bank storage facilities.

Logistical Impacts on the Best Cord Blood Banks

The ability to ship products in a reasonable amount of time was reduced during the pandemic, especially if third party shippers were used. For the most part, when shipping cord blood to hospitals, the best cord blood banks used specialized delivery services that wouldn’t have been affected by general shipment issues, although they still implemented social distancing and PPE policies during pickup, travel, and delivery of cord blood samples. The biggest logistical impact was the manufacturing and delivery of products from factories that are used for the collection and delivery of cord blood. The best cord blood banks had a stockpile of products, however, so the impacts were minimal.

Impact on Facilities

Keeping employees at the best cord blood banks has been an important part of the effort to combat covid-19. Once lockdowns and mandates started being enacted, blood banks had to take care of the needs of their employees through social distancing policies and PPE provisioning. This slowed down some efforts. Suddenly, not as many staff could be working at the same time. Rotating schedules were implemented to ensure that new cord blood could be deposited in a timely manner and that requests for withdrawal and delivery to hospitals were not held up.

Overall, the best cord blood banks were able to weather the covid-19 pandemic well, with some loss in revenue that should recover within the next few years and new policies that will help with future pandemics, or in general ongoing safety in facilities. If you are interested in storing your newborn’s cord blood with the best cord blood banks, contact HealthBanks.us today for more information about the facilities available, and the costs associated.

Reviewed by Paul V. Holland, MD