Why You May Not Be Able To Find This Common OTC Remedy If Your Child Gets The Flu

With a triple threat of sickness making the rounds across the country, this fall has been tough on kids and their parents. There has been an unprecedented rise in cases of RSV in children combined with an increase in flu cases, as well as incidences of COVID-19.

Consequently, several medications have been prescribed in large amounts to give parents the ability to treat their child's respiratory infections at home and help their children be as comfortable as possible while they recover.

In fact, one medication has been prescribed so much that the FDA had to give a warning to parents about safeguarding the couch medicine from small hands (via NBC News).

In Canada, supplies of fever and pain medicine dipped so low they had to rely on imports from the U.S. for ibuprofen and Australia for acetaminophen (via CTV News). Now, some say the shortage is coming to the United States. 

Now New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Michigan are experiencing shortages of Children's Tylenol (via Washington Times). Pharmacist Don Arthur, who owns a pharmacy in Buffalo, NY says his store isn't the only one to experience empty shelves where Children's Tylenol used to be, per the Daily Mail. "We're having a difficult time getting it," Arthur explained. "Every day we check what we have on these two shelves and we take a look at what's available from the manufacturer and our distributors and we buy what we can."

Despite news circulating about the shortage, the makers of Children's Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson, released a statement stating otherwise (via Yahoo! Finance). "We are not experiencing shortages of Children's Tylenol in the United States," the statement read. "There is increased consumer-driven demand for our children's pain reliever products in Canada, and we're taking all possible measures to ensure product availability."