Worried about the kids’ pain med supply? Likely ‘minimal’ issues this year: experts

Parents can expect stocked shelves of children's pain medicine this winter, but a global shortage of an ingredient used to make suspensions of children's antibiotics persists.

Parents likely don’t need to worry about stocking up on children’s pain relief medicine this winter, industry experts say.

The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPA) and Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP) confirmed with Global News that last year’s major shortage has been resolved, and the risk of shortages is “minimal.”

Gerry Harrington, senior vice president for consumer health at the FHCP, says the organization has collaborated with Health Canada and manufacturers to ensure demand for kids’ pain medicine is met this year.

“We reacted strongly, as did Health Canada, but we think it was the appropriate response. And oversupply is a much easier problem to deal with and undersupply,” Harrington told Global News.

Harrington said FHCP also worked with other stakeholders such as hospital systems and provincial health authorities to keep production levels high.

“The companies that manufacture these products have been operating with really elevated production levels now for… well since last year. And the companies are doing that simply because after the experience of last year, we want to ensure that we don’t run up against that kind of situation.”

Starting last summer, infant and children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen products were flying off the shelves at retail outlets, pharmacies and hospitals across Canada.

At the time, Health Canada said the shortage was due to unprecedented demand, as pediatricians noted an unusually early rise in viral illnesses over the spring and summer months in 2022. The winter was dubbed as a “tripledemic” between COVID-19, RSV and the flu.