Pharmacies across New Jersey are selling out of two essentials — antibiotics and over-the-counter children’s pain and fever medicine — as parents and pediatricians deal with an unprecedented wave of sick children.
The shortage reflects a nationwide problem, due in part to an unusually early start to the flu season along with outbreaks of other respiratory illnesses. The result was a huge amount of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, the two main remedies for fever reduction in children.
“It’s scary,” Paris Nazari, a pharmacist at Parkview Pharmacy in Teaneck, said Thursday. “We’ve never seen anything like this. These are the basics and we can’t get them.”
Governor Phil Murphy spoke to Walgreens and CVS executives this week about the shortage. He said on social media that his administration was “ready if more help is needed,” but did not provide further details.
Pharmacies across New Jersey, from large chains to convenience stores, are reporting empty shelves that once held children’s Tylenol, Motrin and Advil. CVS and Walgreens limit the number of pain relievers customers can buy at one time.
In his 22 years as a pediatrician, Dr. David Schaumberger has never seen an autumn as busy as this one. Many parents have to go to different pharmacies to find their prescribed antibiotics, such as Amoxiclav, available, he said.
“The sheer number of sick children is something we’ve never dealt with before,” said Schaumberger of Tenafly Pediatrics. “We’ve been dealing with the flu since Halloween. We usually don’t see it until late December and it peaks in January. We’ve had RSV, colds and coughs, everything.”
Although viruses such as the flu, RSV, and COVID are not treated with antibiotics, they can lead to secondary infections that require these drugs.
In late October, the FDA announced a nationwide shortage of the powder used to make liquid amoxicillin, the pink antibiotic prescribed by millions of pediatricians to treat strep throat and other bacterial infections. The shortage is expected to last for months. Amoxicillin is also a relatively inexpensive generic drug, making it less likely for drug manufacturers to invest in complex supply chain management.
Nazari, of Parkview Pharmacy, said suppliers told her they could only get the medicine in early February. Parents buy antihistamines instead of painkillers, but they are not enough.
Dr. Basil Bruno, a pediatrician based in Rochelle Park, said alternatives such as suppositories or a warm bath are effective alternatives for reducing a child’s temperature.
Bruno did not recommend that parents split adult pain reliever dosages for children because the active ingredients, including acetaminophen, can be unevenly distributed in the capsule. “If you split a pill in half, you can’t split the dose in half,” he said.
He also advised against giving expired medicine to children. “We don’t want parents to panic,” Optum Health’s Bruno said. “We don’t want to under or overdose them, and we certainly don’t want to give them medication that may have already started to break down.”
Staff writer Lindy Washburn contributed to this article, which also includes information from USA Today.
