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home / 世界杯决赛2022

shortage of children's fever, pain medication to be eased 'very soon', says province

the shortages that are being felt across the country are still primarily impacting kids' medications, but it has expanded into the adult supply as well

by bill kaufmann
published jan 04, 2023
read time 4 minute read
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read time 4 minute read
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alberta pharmacists say they’re still struggling to provide children’s pain and fever medications, a shortage that’s now extended to adult products. but provincial officials say a full health canada approval of medications they’ve ordered to ease the shortage is near and should bring relief soon.
a continuing robust demand for medications such as tylenol and advil is being driven by a triple whammy this winter of a potent strain of influenza, covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (rsv). calgary pharmacists are eager to see the five million bottles of acetaminophen and ibuprofen that the province announced dec. 6 that it’s sourcing from turkish suppliers.
“we were hoping to see that before the end of last year but we’re looking forward to having that in january,” said margaret wing, ceo of the alberta pharmacists’ association (apa).
“there are a number of products in short supply due to overwhelming demand.”
the shortages that are being felt across the country are still primarily affecting kids’ medications, but it has expanded into the adult supply and is also being seen in prescription drugs such as codeine and antibiotics, she said.
the province is expecting what it calls health canada’s partial approval of its consignment to fully encompass it very soon, said alberta health spokesman steve buick.
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“we’re working through the details on approval of the full order, looking to announce delivery as soon as we can,” he said in an email.
“we know everyone’s watching for it, (we) hope to have firm information to announce very soon.”
the aggressive start to this season follows two years that saw limited spread of flu viruses, a trend thought to align with public-health measures taken to combat covid-19. the currently dominant flu strain — influenza a h3n2 — was expected to peak before the new year, but a possible second peak of influenza a h1n1 virus could come later in the season, alberta community influenza surveillance program head dr. james dickinson told postmedia.
wing said it’s hard to say what the supply situation will be in the coming weeks and months.
“it really depends on this viral load — if we could predict illness, it’d be easier to predict demand,” she said.

supply remains an issue

providing enough children’s and adult pain and fever medication remains a challenge, said kaylan bassett, pharmacist at the pharm drugstore in marda loop.
“we continue to compound them (produce our own) in our pharmacy lab,” said bassett.
her pharmacy has recently received a shipment of tylenol for those aged 2 to 12 years that had been sourced from the u.s. by health canada, which has eased some of the pressure, she said.
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but it’s clear those supplies haven’t been enough to end the shortage, said bassett.
“people are noticing — they’re coming in here saying they’ve been to other stores and the shelves are pretty bare,” she said.
“how long this goes on is kind of unpredictable — hopefully, (the supply) is coming back.”
prior to this flu season, bassett said she’s never seen a shortage of children’s tylenol and advil.
the operators of large pharmacy chains also say supply of the medications remains an issue.
another independent pharmacist said his drugstore has a decent supply of fever and pain medication that arrived last week from that health canada consignment, adding people can find it if they search around.
“but other stores are calling us for tylenol because they don’t have it in stock,” said mubeen sadiq, pharmacist and owner of pharmedic pharmacy, which operates two drugstores in calgary.
some pharmacies, he said, “are not paying attention to what’s available to order.”
local shortages are partly due to some parents panicking and hoarding medications, he said, though wing said the wider cause could result from manufacturers’ problems in sourcing critical ingredients and an unprecedented demand.
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alberta’s influenza numbers high

alberta’s influenza numbers continued to balloon last month, with the number of related deaths during the most severe flu season since 2009 going from 16 at the end of november to 56 as of dec. 17, the most recently available statistics from alberta health.
during that same time, total cumulative hospitalizations from the flu have so far nearly doubled from 818 to 1,626, with icu admissions growing from 80 to 170.
by the end of the week of dec. 17, there had been 1,163,876 influenza vaccinations administered.
the number of covid-19 hospitalizations in alberta fell from 1,131 on nov. 18 to 910 a month later, with a recent death rate attributed to the disease of more than 40 a week.
albertans should be able to find the medications they need but the current situation has placed considerable pressure on consumers and pharmacists, said wing.
“we’re fortunate we’re in a province where pharmacists can provide a lot of solutions, they’re able to compound or provide alternatives,” she said.
“but it’s placed additional stress not only on patients but on health-care professionals.”
bkaufmann@postmedia.com
twitter: @billkaufmannjrn

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