Chilliwack drug stores short on children’s pain meds; foreign supply to hit Canadian shelves next week

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Hospital, pharmacies and parents with sick kids have been grappling with a nationwide shortage of children’s Tylenol and Advil since spring, exacerbated by the early appearance of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Hospitals have reported surges in the number of kids admitted to emergency and intensive care units. Canada’s largest pediatric health centre, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, said last week it was reducing surgeries to preserve its critical care capacity after reporting its ICU had been well above capacity for several days.

Health Canada said production of children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen is double what it was last year, but demand is still outpacing supply.

Sharma said Health Canada approved three proposals to import foreign product and the supply has already started to arrive in the country. That move was “always on the table,” but it’s been taken up with urgency since the late summer and early fall, she said.

“The product that’s coming in, just to say, for these first shipments, is actually very similar, almost exactly the same as the product that’s already authorized in Canada in terms of in formulation,” she said.

Health officials were grilled about the shortage earlier this week by a House of Commons health committee, with MPs demanding answers about when it began, what was behind it and who was to blame.