As we’re in the midst of cold and flu season, there is a high demand for cold medication, but the shelves are bare. 

Dale Warkentin from Sobeys Pharmacy says he doesn’t expect the cold medication shortage to be fixed until we are out of cold and flu season. 

He has heard experts in the industry compare it to the toilet paper shortage at the beginning of COVID. From his understanding, it’s not an ingredient shortage, but a demand and supply issue. 

"That's my understanding of what's happening. I know we see memos that manufacturers are working very hard to restock supply.” 

On the other hand, Scott Penner from Pharmasave believes it could be a mix of several things, from supply chain management issues to raw ingredient shortages or packaging materials being unavailable.  

“It could be the bottle itself which may come from another country and is not able to be supplied to the manufacturer, or it could be one of the many components that go into the medication formulation itself.” 

Penner says that the shortage has been building up for several months already, and it’s not just cold medication that is running low. 

For example, Polysporin eye drops are nowhere to be found. Which is the only antibiotic eye drop they have available without a prescription. 

“It is back-ordered from the manufacturer itself and it's very frustrating as pharmacists. I've talked to fellow pharmacists as well,” he says. “We just don't have the same tools that we had even just six months ago to help people who come in to see us.” 

Both Warkentin and Penner aren’t completely sure of the cause for the medication shortage, but they do offer some advice on how to deal with it. 

Warkentin says something we can do as consumers to help fix the problem is to avoid stockpiling. He says it’s important to only buy medicine when you need it. 

”If your child isn't sick, don't try and get any. If you really don't need, please do leave it for people whose kids are actively sick.” 

If your child is sick and there is no children's medicine on the shelf, you may be able to get them a lower dose of adult medicine. 

Depending on several factors such as your child’s age and weight, they may be able to have a lower adult dose. Warkentin says it’s best to check with the pharmacist to see what would work best for your child.  

“Talk to the pharmacists. Kids who are maybe a little bit older may be able to take a lower dose regular adult tablet like the Advil 200 or Tylenol 325.” 

Penner says pharmacists always try to base dosages based on body weight, and so if you just follow the labels based on age alone the dose may not be correct for the child.  

"I always ask the caregiver how heavy is little Johnny? ‘oh he’s 30 pounds.’ You know what? You can actually give him half of a regular-strength Tylenol. ‘Really?’ Yes you can. You can break it up, you can crush it, put it in some jam, yogurt, or in some juice.” 

Penner says the other thing you can do is tell the pharmacist your symptoms. A lot of the time they will be able to point you to an alternative other than Advil and Tylenol. 

“Colds can vary from stuffy nose, ear involvement, chest, throat, everything. So you may need just a simple decongestant to help with your nose.” 

Penner also notes that a lot of pharmacies have their own brand of products that are equivalent to the more well-known brand name products. They have the exact same ingredients and the same dosages as brand-name products. 

“Very often if we don't have one product that you're really looking for, there is an alternative that we can find to help a person out.” 

Penner says there are signs that it is easing up. And they’re hopeful that by Christmas there won’t be any issues.