Children’s Cold Medicine Shortage: What to Know in Kentucky

Some Lexington pharmacy areas have reported difficulties maintaining Youngsters’s Tylenol and comparable fever reducers in inventory amid the continuing Scarcity of medicines for kids throughout the nation.

In response to a basic inquiry in regards to the availability of Child Tylenol merchandise, a Walgreens worker on Richmond Street mentioned the shop had solely “six or seven” merchandise in inventory on Wednesday afternoon.

In the meantime, a CVS worker in Todds Street mentioned the shop was fully bought out of Youngsters’s Tylenol by Wednesday afternoon, however hoped to get one other cargo on Thursday by 4pm.

In current weeks, Walgreens and CVS have Limits the quantity of kids’s medication Clients should purchase directly, in keeping with a report final month from NBC Information.

As of Wednesday, that was nonetheless the case for CVS a minimum of, when an organization spokesperson informed the Herald-Chief in an electronic mail {that a} restrict nonetheless applies to clients.

“To make sure equitable entry to all of our clients, there are presently two (2) product limits on all youngsters’s ache aid merchandise in any respect CVS Pharmacy and cvs.com areas. We’re dedicated to assembly our clients’ wants and are working with our suppliers to make sure continued entry to those gadgets,” Mary Gattuso writes, Chief Director of Retail Communications at CVS.

In response to an identical question, a Walgreens consultant linked to an earlier assertion offered by the corporate Promote on-line buy restrict solely Six per buyer for over-the-counter merchandise to cut back youngsters’s fever.

Till not too long ago, it was acetaminophen or ibuprofen for kids It was not on the US Meals and Drug Administration’s drug scarcity recordHowever that modified on Tuesday when the Meals and Drug Administration introduced it was shut Monitor provide and work with producers to increase it.

All of this comes amid early flu season, with Kentucky is experiencing among the highest flu exercise within the nation In current weeks, in keeping with CDC knowledge.

the The newest out there influenza surveillance report From December 25-31, the Kentucky Division of Public Well being reported 37,825 confirmed circumstances of influenza in the course of the 2022-2023 flu season. There have been an extra 1,307 confirmed circumstances of influenza throughout that reporting interval, which is a lower from 2,132 circumstances have been reported within the earlier week.

What do I do if I am unable to discover chilly medicines for kids?

Dr Carol Steltenkamp, ​​UK HealthCare’s chief medical officer, mentioned provide points had improved considerably, however she nonetheless confronted “intermittent” shortages in her work with sufferers.

“There was such an elevated demand,” she mentioned in a current interview with the Herald-Chief.

Steltenkamp recommends that oldsters search for generic alternate options if they’ll discover them at native drug shops.

She additionally mentioned dad and mom ought to verify with their main care doctor or pharmacist about alternate options, and if that does not work, attempt honey. Steltenkamp added that it’s protected to present honey to infants so long as they’re 12 months or older.

One factor you need to by no means do by yourself is attempt to give your youngster a modified grownup dose of acetaminophen or different over-the-counter remedy. That might have opposed results in your kid’s well being, Steltenkamp mentioned.

Dr. Giriraj Patil, Chief Medical Officer, Wellcare Kentuckyencourage dad and mom with sick youngsters to hunt pressing care clinics as a substitute of bringing their youngsters to emergency rooms, which have seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 circumstances along with conventional well being emergencies.

Telehealth can be an excellent choice for households, Patel mentioned.

the Mayo Clinic additionally recommends the next To deal with a chilly with out remedy:

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