A pain for parents: some children's medicine in short supply after spring COVID run

Canadian parents seeking to soothe a young child’s headache or lower a fever might have trouble finding their usual brand-name bottle of liquid ibuprofen or acetaminophen on pharmacy shelves.

In short supply are Liquid Advil, Motrin, Tylenol and Tempra products for children, said Alexandre Chadi, a pharmacist at a Jean-Coutu pharmacy in Montreal's Parc-Extension.

"It’s causing a lot of anxiety for our parents with young kids," Chadi said.

"What is happening right now is there is a partial back-order on some products, especially liquid formulations for children," said Benoit Bolduc, the President of the Quebec Order of Pharmacists.

Bolduc attributes the shortage to an increase in the number of children who suffered more symptoms from COVID-19 during recent waves of the illness this past spring.

That meant that families snapped up more liquid formulations of the pain relievers and fever reducers than they usually do at that time of year.

"Usually they're used in September and October at the beginning of school, up to March, April," Bolduc explained -- the normal season when kids are congregating indoors and spreading around the germ du jour.

He suggested that given the vagaries of the pandemic and how it has altered the usual virus seasons, the big manufacturers had no way to "adequately" plan their stock.

"But this is going to get back in order sometime this summer," Bolduc said, adding that the situation is the same across Canada.

SEVERAL ALTERNATIVES AVAILABLE

Families can be reassured, however, to know that there are alternative products they can use should their child get sick or injured, Bolduc said.

If a pharmacy happens to be out of a preferred brand-name liquid medicine, in-house brands of ibuprofen and acetaminophen are still in stock and are appropriate substitutes, he said.

Or, after consulting with a pharmacist, parents may decide the child is old enough, if they are six to eight years old, for example, to try taking a solid form of the medicine, meaning a pill or gel capsule.

"In a worst-case scenario," pharmacists can also compound medicines, which means they follow a prescription and mix the vital ingredients into a liquid suspension -- something they are accustomed to doing for "a lot of kids for a lot of drugs," he said.

Bolduc said it’s always wise to speak to a pharmacist if you plan to give a child medicine they've never taken before, and he also advised parents not to buy products online.

--With files from CTV's Bogdan Lytvynenko