‘Our shelves are pretty bare’: Alberta experiencing shortage of adult cough and cold medicine

Amid a shortage of children’s medicine in Alberta, there are reports of a shortage of adult cough and cold medicines.

Randy Howden, the owner of the Medicine Shoppe in Crowfoot and Sunridge in Calgary, says pharmacists are unable to stock the shelves.

“The situation with the adult cough and cold medicines has been ongoing for a few months now,” Howden said.

“Our shelves are pretty bare right now, we have a couple of products on the shelf that I was able to find. But at this point in time, my store and I noticed some other pharmacies that they are completely bare too.”

The Alberta government secured an order of five million bottles of children’s fever and pain medication from Turkey in early December, and around 250,000 arrived in the middle of January.

There is still no word on the remaining 4.75 million bottles, which were delayed due to concerns over child-proof caps.

Read More: First shipment of children’s medication arrives in Alberta

Meanwhile, with the ongoing shortage in the province, some say they are struggling to find even a single bottle of cough syrup.

“We went to Shoppers [Drug Mart]. There was no cough syrup, the whole aisle was empty. Then we had to go to Walmart. Still, [the] same thing happened. We have been trying to find it online but didn’t find anything,” said Ankita Ahluwalia, a Calgary mom of two.

Some Albertans say they are forced to try whatever is left on the pharmacy shelves.

“I keep looking, and I have to settle for brands I don’t normally choose. In one pharmacy in downtown Calgary, I actually took the last bottle of the cough syrup off the shelf,” said Marjorie Ann, a senior Calgarian.

Howden says the shortage seems to be a supply chain issue.

“What we’ve been told is that it has to do more with the demand. The demand is a lot higher than what it has been in previous years,” he explained.

“But to be honest, some part of me thinks that maybe there’s a bit of a supply issue going on that is complicating the situation.”

Howden says this problem won’t be going away in the near future.

“I don’t expect any magical solution is near. We haven’t been given much information from our warehouses or from the manufacturers of the products. So we do not know what to expect,” he said.

When asked when he expects to be at full stock, he says, “it could be weeks, and most likely, it will be a month before we start seeing a resolution.”

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The Canadian government imported one million units of children’s acetaminophen across the country late in November.

This was due to high rates of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and influenza in Canada.

CityNews has reached out to the Government of Alberta to see if it has a plan to address the shortage, like it did with children’s medication, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

-With files from Laura Krause and CityNews staff