PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Drugstores are seeing a lot more empty shelves in the children’s medicine section as more families look for relief from the triple threat of respiratory viruses making the rounds.
Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand as COVID-19, RSV and the flu spread simultaneously, making many children and adults sick. At this point, experts said, the spread of RSV has settled down but flu cases have risen dramatically and COVID-19 cases are still rising.
“Kind of pediatric-wise, this is fairly unprecedented. [The flu] is really coming on strong and making up for lost time,” said Dr. John Russell, chair of family medicine at Jefferson Health – Abington Hospital.
“This is gonna be a long and continuous flu season,” added Dr. Steven Shapiro, Abington’s chair of pediatrics.
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For those who are looking for fever relievers and pain relievers for their families, like acetaminophen or ibuprofen, a brand name may not be available, but a generic would be just as effective.
“Works just as well and probably in most of your hospitals that’s what someone is getting,” Russell said. “Probably most doctors have the generic version of those things in their own homes.”
There may be an urge to get certain medicines at the drugstore, but the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that children under 4 should not be given cough or cold medicine because of a potential for accidental overdosing.
Shapiro said there are other ways to relieve some of the symptoms a younger child is feeling.
“Using some salt water and nasal suction, a humidifier, and all the things you can do to make your child feel comfortable for the three, four or five days of the viral illness,” Shapiro said.
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And it isn’t just over-the-counter drugs that are in short supply. Tamiflu and amoxicillin have run low in areas as well.
“We will write a prescription and often get a call from the pharmacy that ‘they’re out of this, but they have that, and can we make a change in the prescription?’ Or we hear directly from the parent when they say, ‘I can’t find the medicine you prescribed.’” Shapiro said.
A recommendation from Russell is that families get physical copies of the prescription in case they have to travel from store to store to get the treatment they need.
As people gather for the holidays, both Russell and Shapiro recommended families stay vigilant, keep masks handy and stay home if they’re not feeling well. And health experts say it is best for people to get the COVID-19 bivalent booster and the flu shot — if they haven’t done so yet — to increase protection and reduce the odds that they will get sick enough to need hospital care.