Children's medication remains in short supply at Windsor-Essex pharmacies, despite push from feds for more stock

A shortage of children's cold and flu medication inside Windsor-Essex pharmacies is showing no signs of coming to an end.

Late last month, the federal government announced 500,000 units of children's medication, on top of 1.1 million foreign import units, would be coming into Canada.

But at Medica Pharmacy on Erie Street East, owner and pharmacist Francesco Vella said his team received notice it would be receiving fresh supply — but it's been arriving "in drops."

"When we have a few boxes of Advil and Tylenol come in, they get taken and get purchased relatively quickly," said Vella, adding the children's medication shortage is also starting to spill over in certain adult medications.

"A formulation that is specifically designed to be used in paper that have high blood pressure, like corcodin, has also gone on backorder. So we're really struggling to deal with the shortage."

Alternative methods of getting children the medication they need are far and few, according to Vella. He said one option is to recommend parents look to the U.S. to see if there is stock available across the border — or split adult-dose tablets and mix the powder in a child's food.

"We've been looking up the clinical guidelines for dosing for both pediatric infant and children's Tylenol and Advil. What we do, in coordination with the child's physician, is we will find the appropriate dose in a tablet ... based on age and weight," said Vella.

Tim Brady, board chair for the Ontario Pharmacists Association, said finding children's medication stock at Windsor-Essex pharmacies is a "hit or miss" effort.

"Most stores aren't putting it out on the counter because people are taking too many. We're trying to be understanding ... but we also want to make sure one person isn't hoarding a bunch of the meds," said Brady.

Brady, who also owns Brady's Drug Store in Essex and Belle River, said his pharmacies have been running out of stock "more often" than not. He added shipments come in every week and are bought up within a day or two.

He recommends parents who want to split adult medications do so under the supervision and assistance of a pharmacist.

"Don't just guess at it. It's an easy call to one of your local pharmacies. We can help with dosages," he said.

"The nice thing with liquid is you can be extremely precise. You can get down to the milligram. When you're talking about crushing tablets, we can get pretty close but at the end of the day. At the end of the day, it's a safe choice and it's better than having nothing."