LITTLE CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Parents all over the country are coming across empty shelves when they go to buy over-the-counter medicines for their sick children.
What’s to blame? What many have been referring to as the “tripledemic.”
An uptick in RSV, influenza and COVID-19 in kids has caused shortages of children’s Tylenol, ibuprofen and other medicines across the nation– including here in Wisconsin.
Parents are feeling extra stress when taking care of their sick children due to the shortage of children’s medicines.
“My daughter had a really bad cough and a 104 [degree] fever,” said Appleton mom, Kathy Schumann. “Whatever it is that’s going around, it’s definitely hitting the majority of the homes that have children.”
Schumann says her daughter was prescribed amoxicillin from the doctor.
“Most of the pharmacies in the Appleton area didn’t have any,” said Schumann.
She says she also had no luck when it came to over-the-counter medication.
“The shelves are just wiped clean; I couldn’t believe it,” said Schumann. “Not a single thing of anything for fever.”
According to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, sales of kids’ medicine to treat pain and fever are up 65% from this time last year.
Nic Smith, owner of Smith Pharmacy in Little Chute, says in the past couple of weeks, about 20 to 30 customers come in each day just for children’s medication. They’ve been able to keep little in stock.
“It’s been a nightmare, honestly,” said Smith. “Tylenol, ibuprofen, have been very hard to get. Everything’s on allocation, and it’s tricky. A lot of people need it.”
Because children’s Tylenol and ibuprofen are in such high demand, pharmacies, including Smith, are limiting purchases to just two bottles.
“You used to be able to get one or two bottles a day, and we have a ton of different suppliers and wholesalers. Now, nobody has anything,” said Smith. “It’s completely dried up.”
Some medical experts say the increase in sickness is due to lessened COVID-19 restrictions.
“We were all masking, socially distancing, keeping away from one another,” said ThedaCare CEO and President Dr. Imran Andrabi.
Dr. Andrabi says we can expect the “tripledemic” to slow down in four to six weeks.
“We are right now in the zone where it’s probably not peaked yet,” said Andrabi.
And when it comes to full availability for medicines, Smith says the answer is a bit blurry.
“Some of them show early January, some of them show February, but you never really know,” said Smith.
CVS and Walgreens stores are also limiting purchases of certain children’s medicines because of the ongoing shortage.
