A national shortage of Children’s Tylenol and Advil is affecting Yellowknife residents.
The reason for the shortfall of Children’s Tylenol and Advil is an increased demand due to the spread of respiratory illnesses this season.
Yellowknifer asked local pharmacies what stock they had, and when they expect to get more.
A representative from Co-op said the store has very little inventory and cannot order more until its supplier restocks.
The Medicine Shoppe has no stock but has the drugs on back order.
Walmart has no stock but has more on back order.
Shoppers Drug Mart has no stock but has more on back order.
Sutherland’s Drugs declined to disclose any information to Yellowknifer.
Everyone who responded said they didn’t know when they could expect to receive more, just that they were trying to replenish supplies.
Allan Rothman, a pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe on Old Airport Road, spoke about how widespread the issue has become.
“All manufacturers (of those particular products) have been affected. There’s no trouble getting the adult doses, but there is for the children’s doses,” he said. “The problem is that there was such a spike in demand because of Covid-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).
“We don’t know (the solution to the problem) because everyone was caught off guard with the demand.”
Rothman proposed two possible options for families.
“You can go to a compounding pharmacy and they can compound it for you. Usually it’s in liquid form, but it’s very expensive,” he said. “The second way is to weigh your child, and then you figure out what the (proper) dosage (for your child) is — there’s a chart that you can find online. Then you cut (the adult tablets) appropriately, crush them, put them in applesauce and then (the child ingests) them.”
Rothman said there isn’t enough being done to protect children from viral illnesses in schools.
“They’re not being protected because they’re not wearing masks in the classrooms. My granddaughter was affected as well. She got infected with both Covid-19 and RSV,” he said. “People just aren’t masking. A lot of them could be asymptomatic and they don’t know even know they have (Covid-19) and they’ll just pass it on from breathing.”