Pharmacy shelves holding children’s over-the-counter cold and flu medications have been running bare lately, but no one is quite sure why.
Brandon hasn’t been immune from the nationwide shortages of children’s-grade medications and other over-the-counter cold remedies as pharmacies find themselves running out of brand-name and generic medicines.
The timing couldn’t be worse, said Kevin Miller, manager of Miller’s Pharmacy on 18th Street. The traditional start of the fall and winter cold and flu season is usually now, but he has been having a lot of trouble keeping the kids’ section of the cold, flu and pain relief medications stocked.
A shelf containing just a few bottles has become a common sight, with other adult-sized medications also running short.
Miller doesn’t attribute the shortage to panic buying, yet, but the root cause is still unknown. He said he has noticed wholesalers have been struggling to fill orders.
“I haven’t seen anyone coming in and buying up, like, 10 bottles of children’s Tylenol,” he said. “However, when I put in orders with wholesalers online, I see more products coming up out of stock. I don’t understand what’s going on, but there seems to be problems in the supply chain. If something does pop up on our wholesaler, we try to grab it as soon as we can so people can have that option.”
He’s been told this isn’t a wholesaler issue, but a manufacturer issue. It still isn’t clear if the manufacturers are having trouble keeping up with demand, or if it’s another problem in the system.
Miller’s Pharmacy is a small, family-geared shop, so it doesn’t see huge crowds of customers coming and going, he said. However, due to fewer supplies the pharmacy has implemented a limit of two bottles per customer on children’s medications.
There have been few problems keeping such medications on the shelves up until recently, partially due to a drop in common cold and flu cases owing to COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, like wearing masks, hand washing and social distancing, he said. Demand was so low for over-the-counter medications, Miller and other pharmacies had to clear out expiring products because few people were getting sick, he explained.
But now with mandates dropped, pharmacists are predicting a resurgence in illness and are trying to figure out the next step.
“It doesn’t take much, especially children in school,” he said. “Kids packed into classrooms. It only takes one with the sniffles to pass it to everyone else, just like we used to see. Medications like this helps them cope with symptoms, but with shortages, it’s going to be a hard fall and winter for them.”
To help people navigate this shortage, Miller’s advice was to not panic and buy medication only as needed.
As restrictions ease and the pandemic wanes, people are becoming more social and are returning to close quarters. With less exposure to viruses and germs, people have weaker immune responses and are needing medications to help them get through infections, said Ian Trembath, pharmacist at Flatland Drugs.
Trembath hasn’t seen the same rush on medications at Flatland Drugs, and said that could be because his pharmacy is geared toward an older demographic given its proximity to multiple seniors residences such as Rotary Villas. Nonetheless, Flatland Drugs has still had issues getting certain medications from wholesalers because of shortages, making it harder to keep shelves stocked.
Trembath agreed this is a supply and demand problem, with the supply being short because there had been little demand for it until now.
Rumours and incomplete information have also been feeding the problem, Miller added.
“We are a frontline medical worker, so we have options to help people,” he said. “One thing we can do is educate people, so they know they have options. If we think they need to see a doctor, we say ‘Go see a doctor.’ If they need to go to emergency, we tell them ‘Go to emergency.’ If it’s something I can address, I will. If it’s something that just requires education, that is something I can definitely do.”
There are options for medications in case a favourite or common brand is not available, such as compounding methods.
Miller said they are trained to source out customized medications from what are known as compounding pharmacies, where they take separate ingredients and put medications together based on a certain recipe and concentration.
“As pharmacists, we have the ability to get the ingredients and compound it ourselves without having to wait for a manufacturer,” he said. “That may change costs, because to do that, it requires more input from the pharmacy team. In many cases, it requires a pharmacy that is set up for compounding.”
They do have an agreement with one compounding pharmacy to provide that service when needed, Miller said, but so far, they haven’t had to use it.
Beyond medications, Miller said the past two years have proven precautions have worked. Wearing masks, hand washing and staying home when feeling ill have helped keep infections at bay and should still be practised. Just because they are no longer mandated, it doesn’t mean people should stop using them, he said.
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