Parents facing shortage of children's OTC medicines across Baltimore area
In some areas of Maryland, parents are noticing a shortage of over-the-counter ibuprofen and acetaminophen for children.
Three respiratory illnesses -- flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19 -- are all circulating right now among children. The so-called triple-demic is straining pediatric hospital capacity.
It's a demand issue as children are getting sick, parents are looking for relief for them, and so those medicines are flying off the shelf.
"It's frustrating because my kids have been sick a lot for months," said Miriam Barranger, a mother.
Barranger took her 4-year-old daughter, Rachel, to LifeBridge Pediatric at Loch Raven to get her checked out due to a terrible cough. She said over-the-counter medicines for children have been hard to find.
"I can't find any Tylenol and cold medicine when I go into the CVS, when I go into Walgreens. The shelves are mostly empty," Barrenger said.
WBAL-TV 11 News checked store shelves in Baltimore County and Baltimore City and found the same shortages.
"We're seeing shortages on all sorts of things -- over-the-counter medications, like Tylenol and Motrin, and other cough and cold preparations and antibiotics, in particular, are really the most concerning for kids with ear infections and pneumonia," said vice chair of the department of pediatrics at LifeBridge Health, Dr. Scott Krugman.
Krugman said shortages include Tamiflu.
"We'll send a prescription for an antibiotic and the parent will go and they'll say (the pharmacy doesn't) have it. So, we have to switch and hope they have that one and keep trying different pharmacies to find the antibiotics that work, but the simple, most common one, amoxicillin, for ear infections is just not available at all anymore," Krugman said.
He said don't worry, doctors will do what they have to do to get the child what they need.
As far as fevers go: "Most children that have fevers and colds really don't need a lot of medicine," Krugman said. "So, if a child has a high fever and they are laying around, that's what they're supposed to do when they have a fever, and it will come down."
Rite-Aid sent a statement to 11 News, saying: "We are experiencing high demand of over-the-counter cold/flu medication due to high illness incidence. We are working closely with suppliers to meet the demand and mitigate shortages where possible. If customers don't see their preferred cold/flu treatment products on the shelf, they should speak with the pharmacist for recommendations on other OTC options that best suit their needs."
