DENVER (KDVR) — Local pharmacists say Colorado is seeing a shortage of some medications needed to treat children during this busy respiratory illness season.
“We are having a historic shortage of things that we commonly use to treat kids with respiratory infections like liquid amoxicillin, liquid ibuprofen, liquid acetaminophen, nebs so Albuterol nebs,” said Jason Blauwet, the Director of Pharmacy at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver.
The shortages, Blauwet says, are due to the increase in demand and the high respiratory infection rate in Colorado and across the country.
“We are seeing a surge in RSV cases amongst children the likes of which I haven’t seen in my 22-year career,” Blauwet said.
According to Blauwet, hospitals are well supplied but families may need to call around to different pharmacies or ask providers for other options.
“In some cases, there are alternatives available,” he said.
Tamiflu could also be tough to find in some areas.
A Walgreens representative told FOX31, “We are experiencing isolated and temporary shortages of Tamiflu (oseltamivir), and we advise our customers to call their Walgreens pharmacy to inquire about availability.”
Earlier this month Teri Danna had a hard time finding liquid amoxicillin for her granddaughter with strep throat.
“My granddaughter is 20 months old and she was running a temperature,” Danna said.
Danna’s pharmacy was out, and the pharmacists called multiple other locations, and still couldn’t find any.
“She then contacted the doctor that originally did the prescription, and was able to get an OK for 400 mg, at a lesser dose, and then we got the prescription, but it took a little over two hours to do it,” she said.
For more on Colorado’s rising RSV rate, click here.