More than a month after Health Canada confirmed a shortage of liquid ibuprofen and acetaminophen products for children in several provinces, pharmacy shelves in parts of B.C. remain barren.
Dr. Anna Wolak, a family physician in Vancouver, said she has seen “bare shelves” lately as manufacturers grapple with supply chain issues and try to catch up with increased demand.
“We’re still not getting enough of the raw supplies to make the formulation that eventually ends up on the shelves,” the clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia told Global News.
Demand is unlikely to drop anytime soon, she added, as the school year progresses, cold and flu season gets underway, and more and more children are vaccinated — all creating demand for medicine that numbs pain and fever.
In August, Health Canada confirmed the shortage was due to “significantly higher than normal demand,” and said it was working with other federal departments, provinces, territories, companies, and stakeholders to identify mitigation options.
At the time, it told Global News that regulatory measures to accelerate a resupply were not off the table. In a statement Thursday, the federal department it is still working with manufacturers, governments and stakeholder groups to work out a solution.
In a recent update on its Canadian website, Tylenol recognized the frustration some customers may be experiencing and said staff at its Canadian manufacturing plant are “working hard to increase production.”
“Our site is running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and products are shipping across Canada every day,” it said.
In August, Wolak and Vancouver pharmacist Barbara Gobis urged parents in B.C. not to stockpile while the shortage persists, noting that other ibuprofen and acetaminophen products remain widely available.
“The specific product that a parent might like or traditionally use in their children may, from time to time, not be available but there is no shortage of other products that can be used,” Gobis, who is also a director of the UBC Pharmacists Clinic, said Wednesday.
“So we just encourage if a parent doesn’t find what they want to ask at the pharmacy counter and solutions will be provided.”
Parents are encouraged to look for the chewable children’s ibuprofen and acetaminophen products instead of liquid, or opt for a non-brand name medicine if their usual brand is out of stock. Some pharmacists have large liquid bottles behind the shelves which they may decant into smaller bottles upon request as well.
If there are no children’s formulations available at all, Wolak advised parents to speak to a pharmacist, nurse or physician about alternatives based on the weight of their child.
“Together they can calculate the dose of acetaminophen or ibuprofen that can be given, and sometimes that be done with the adult formulation because it is easier to find,” she explained.
“However, this needs to be done very carefully with a lot of math involved so it needs to be done in conjunction with a health-care practitioner.”
Parents are urged, however, to stay away from using aspirin instead, as it is — in rare cases — connected to Reye’s syndrome, which causes swelling of the liver and brain, and can be fatal.
Global News has reached out to the B.C. Ministry of Health for comment on this article and will update it when a response is received. In a previous interview, Health Minister Adrian Dix said supplies in the province’s public health-care system are “adequate.”
“We’re obviously carefully monitoring it and the more supply we can get, the better. Some health systems have been having trouble … That hasn’t been the case so far in B.C.,” he said on Aug. 19.
With demand for liquid children’s painkillers only expected to increase in the coming months, Wolak said she “wouldn’t hold (her) breath” for a bountiful supply to return to pharmacy shelves.
With promises of ramped up manufacturing from suppliers, however, Gobis said she’s hopeful.
“We do know that supply takes a while to get through the supply chain to the store shelves and there are intermittent shortages of products from time to time just depending on local demand,” she explained.
“What you’re seeing is not a sign of a problem that’s coming, it’s in fact, just a problem that’s getting better.”
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