Where in the world

Where in the world is the Children’s Tylenol, or Advil or Motrin for that matter? And, it’s not just the OTCs missing in action, but prescription antibiotics are hard to find, too. DANG!

Well, well, well, what the heck is going on? According to Health Canada earlier this month, as regards these products, “the demand is outpacing the supply”. I sorta, kinda, understand that statement, but I’m pretty sure there’s more to this than supply and demand. Apparently, “hospitals across Canada are seeing an influx of children dealing with respiratory illnesses like influenza, bacterial pneumonia and asthma.” From my friends in the medical biz, I know this is true! I won’t be a denier of the dramatic increase of respiratory ailments in children. There’s a whole pile of little ones who are “Pandemic Preschoolers”. PP’ers are children under the age of five who have spent the majority of their years locked-down, at home, masked-up and not having the benefit of building some measure of natural immunity. No snot and booger sharing happened with most of these children. When they would have been playing in the sandbox with friends, the neighbours’ kids and their cousins, they were at home watching Paw Patrol or playing with in-thebubble family in the backyard, far away from the microbes and creepy crawlies little kids are famous for sharing. If you’re the caregiver for a little kid, you know this to be the truth. As caring caregivers we panicked when we saw so many people being taken down by COVID-19. The very last thing we wanted for our little ones (or anyone for that matter) was COVID-19. Any sniffle or sneeze or tummy ache or earache was a terrifying occurrence. And each of us, as caregivers, saw what happened with the pantry and bathroom cabinet essentials when the Country moved into full pandemic mode in the early days of 2020. Whenever we had an opportunity to buy any kind of absorbent paper products we did so, and we did so in bulk. When the poop literally hit the fan I vividly remember paying twenty dollars for a six-pack of “bumpf”. We were desperate, sort of. And then? Well, and then we started stockpiling. With parents and caregivers in a panic, they are stockpiling cough, cold and fever medications for their little ones, and for themselves. The warehouses and wholesalers gradually ran short. During the peak pandemic days truckers weren’t trucking. Borders weren’t being crossed. Home remedies weren’t working and supplies were gradually being depleted. But, come on. We finally got through the lockdowns, border closings and yet we continue to pay the price for someone’s mistake.

So, is the supply chain still the reason a caregiver can’t find children’s Tylenol, Advil or Motrin? I think, as a grandparent who likes to have little stash of these products in the OTC arsenal (even though I’m an old hand at bringing a fever down in sickly children and grandchildren) it’s always nice to have some serious medicine on hand for emergencies. However, at this point in time, we’re being taken for a bit of a ride on this particular shortage. On November seventh, the federal government admitted the bigger part of the problem wasn’t the “supply chain,” it was about Canada’s packaging rules which require all labelling to be in both English and in French. Because of this the government wouldn’t allow the importation of products from countries, like the USA, without bilingual labelling. Well, they wouldn’t allow the importation until they did.

Perhaps it was the million plus communications from desperate medical professionals and frightened caregivers, but early this month Health Canada waived the bilingual labelling requirements in order to bring tens of thousands of units of children’s pain and fever relief medication into the Country. So, where the H E double dosage caps of syrup are the goods? Where in the world is the Children’s Tylenol, the Children’s Motrin and the Children’s Advil? Why are parents and other caregivers still living in fear facing a preschooler’s fever, cough, cold or worse. One parent told me their son was just diagnosed with pneumonia. It was bad enough she had to wait twenty-four hours to take her sick child to a walk-in clinic in another city, only then to be told her child needed Acetaminophen for his 103-degree fever and to have a prescription for Amoxicillin filled. Both products are hard to find and it took another frantic three hours to find a pharmacy that could fill the prescription and another pharmacy which had the Acetaminophen for Children.

Today is Monday, November 14. Due to the unprecedented increase in severe respiratory infections in young children the government will probably impose a mask mandate. So, mask-up! OTCs and antibiotics still aren’t readily available. Let’s do everything we can to protect ourselves and our little ones.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca