By Mia Jensen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Sudbury Star
December 10, 2022
With no end yet in sight for the acute shortage of children’s medications in Ontario, health officials in Sudbury are encouraging parents to stay vigilante and take precautions to minimize the spread of illness through the winter season.
Since the spring, families with children have been faced with empty shelves at pharmacies, convenience stores, grocers, and even gas stations as Canada deals with hundreds of medications in short supply.
As cold and flu season continues through the next several months, Public Health Sudbury and Districts said prevention will be key.
“With the respiratory illnesses that we do know are circulating locally, specifically in those younger populations, it’s very important that we take precautions to try and reduce the likelihood that those children do contract those illnesses and do get sick in the first place,” said Ethan Lamarche, a registered nurse with Public Health’s Control of Infectious Diseases team.
According to health Canada, at least 800 drugs are running low or entirely out of stock, including children’s fever and pain relievers like Tylenol and Advil. It’s an issue that first became obvious last spring and has since worsened to include shortages of adult doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, as well as over-the-counter allergy medication, eyedrops and some oral antibiotics.
It’s a problem that’s expected to be exacerbated by this year’s cold and flu season.
For the last two years, Lamarche said infections of influenza, RSV and even the common cold have been lower than normal in Sudbury due to COVID-19 public health measures. But now that those measures are lifting, those viruses are spreading with a vengeance.
“We typically do see an increase in those cases around this time in the fall winter and then early spring,” he said. “With the pandemic over the last few years, and the lessening of those restrictions lately, we are seeing additional rise in those cases.”
Absentee rates high
In the last few weeks, for example, elementary schools in Public Health’s service area have reported higher-than-normal rates of absenteeism due to illness.
On Dec. 2, about eight per cent of elementary-aged children were absent due to illness. One week prior, on Nov. 25, the rate was 11 per cent.
Public Health said these rates are “significantly greater” than what they’d normally expected. On the same dates in each year from 2017 to 2019, before the pandemic began, the average rate of illness-related absenteeism in local elementary schools was just 2.2 per cent.
Health Sciences North has also seen an increase in cases.
In response to a request for comment, communications specialist Jessica Lopatka said there has been a 50 per cent increase in pediatric patients at the hospital, with the biggest increases being with cough, fever, and sore throat.
She said there has also been an overall increase of patients visiting the Emergency Department, though that isn’t related to pediatric patients alone.
With the medication shortage ongoing, many families are left without the tools to treat sick children at home. That’s why Lamarche said Public Health is encouraging community members to be as proactive as they can to minimize the risk of infection.
“It’s basically making sure that we prevent illness to those populations,” he said. “So things like keeping children away from sick people … wearing a well-fitted mask in all indoor settings, including schools and childcare settings. Adults exhibiting respiratory symptoms are encouraged to mask, even within the home. And then screening for symptoms and if your children are exhibiting symptoms, keeping them home from school or daycare.”
Lamarche also said children eligible for COVID-19 and flu vaccinations should get their shots as soon as possible.
In cases where the child is already sick, Lamarche said parents can check with primary care physicians or pharmacists to learn what alternatives are available.
And if they have concerns, or their child’s symptoms worsen, parents should reach out to their family doctor, or visit a local walk-in clinic or emergency department.
No end to shortage yet in sight: pharmacists
The medication shortage isn’t a new issue for Canadian drug suppliers, according to Jen Belcher, a pharmacist and vice-president strategic initiatives and media relations for the Ontario Pharmacists Association.
“We’ve been managing them extensively over the last decade and longer,” she said. “But it’s been much more acute over the course of the last several years, especially, of course, over the pandemic.”
According to Belcher, the acute shortage a children’s medication is mostly the result of supply chain issues and changes in the seasonality of demand.
“In tracking the overall utilization of some of these products, we’re seeing anywhere from a three to four time increase over previous all-time high usage rates,” said Belcher. “And manufacturers just don’t have the capacity to keep up with that level of demand based off how they’ve structured operations and allocated resources to the Canadian marketplace.”
Since children’s medications started disappearing in the spring, demand has remained high, rather than decreasing during the summer months to allow manufacturers to catch up. And without access to pediatric doses, parents instead have to split and crush adult dosage medications, raising demand on those products, as well.
“To see the demand spike so early in the season doesn’t allow for manufacturers to patch up their production and produce those higher quantities,” said Belcher.
The federal government has been attempting to up imports on medications to make up for the shortage in the last few weeks. In November, the government announced it would bring in one million bottles of children’s pain relievers for temporary relief.
Belcher said Ontario pharmacists are expecting similar efforts over the next few months, but she doesn’t expect the drug supply to recover anytime soon.
“We’re in a slightly better position this week than we were two weeks prior to the importation,” she said. “But the demand continues to be exceptionally high. There’s a lot of people that are panicked. If we continue to see ongoing demand, high levels of respiratory illness, and high level of pediatric hospitalizations … it really is hard to say until we see a true drop off.”
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The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.
mjensen@postmedia.com
Twitter: @mia_rjensen