'Never seen it this bad': Cold and flu medicine shortage leaves Ottawa pharmacy shelves bare
If you’re wondering about levels of illness in the city of Ottawa right now look no further than pharmacy store shelves, in some cases cleaned out of all cold and flu remedies, as a surge in COVID infections continues.
Across the capital, bare shelves are a common sight at pharmacies with cold and flu medication in high demand but in short supply across the country.
"We're not only seeing an increase in demand but some disruptions to supply," said Jen Belcher from the Ontario Pharmacists Association.
"Been (at the local pharmacy) for the last week, back and forth, nothing on the shelves, went again today and nothing on the shelves," Ottawa resident Monica Bilkhu said.
Bilkhu and her family spent Friday driving around the city in search of medications for her sick nine-year-old daughter.
"We got very lucky in Greely and received some Tylenol and Advil from there, but we've just been running around the city like crazy trying to find some medication for our kids. A little frustrating, not gonna lie," she said.
"I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Andrew Hanna, compounding pharmacist and owner of Pharmasave Avalon in Orleans.
Hanna has been compounding medication, which is essentially creating alternatives in-house.
"We're just playing it by ear, and if we can compound something to help the public than we're here for them."
But compounding isn’t always an option. In a statement to CTV News, Shoppers Drug Mart said the increase in demand, "In addition to supply issues experienced by our vendor partners has meant that at times, stores may be waiting longer for their next shipment to arrive."
"What's concerning is we don't really have a timeline for when a lot of these products will be back and we know a lot of people turn to them when they're feeling unwell to help them be more comfortable when you have a cold, a flu, or COVID-19," Belcher said.
And so amid another COVID wave in the capital accessing medication to relieve some symptoms could be a challenge.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.