Canada is set to receive a foreign supply of children’s pain medications, but the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA) says it's difficult to predict when the shipment will arrive or if it will keep shelves stocked.
“While it’s definitely an encouraging sign to see the news that a foreign supply will be coming to help fulfill orders in the community pharmacy/retail space, it will be hard to predict how it will affect the overall return to supply such that we don’t run into shortage again,” Jen Belcher, OPA’s vice president of strategic initiatives and member relations, told CTV News Toronto.
On Monday, Health Canada said it secured a foreign supply of children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen that will arrive in the “coming weeks.” The federal agency says the shipment has been imported and distribution is underway.
The announcement was in response to a national shortage of children’s pain and fever medication that’s been ongoing for months as the country faces a spike in demand tied to a flu epidemic, a COVID-19 pandemic and a spike in RSV cases.
Health Canada officials said that the national shipment will aid the “immediate situation,” which Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos suggested will equate to several months-worth of inventory.
But Belcher said she hasn’t received details yet on when the provinces will be receiving the federal shipments or how large they will be.
“It’s hard to predict what that looks like at this point, but hopefully this information will be more available soon,” she said.
Supply projections have been a challenge for months. In September, Belcher was hopeful empty shelves would be restocked by mid to late fall.
“Given the higher levels of virus circulating, the demand hasn’t stabilized, it’s increased. That places additional strain on what is entering the market,” Belcher said.
The difficulty with forecasting the end of the shortage is demand is still outstripping supply, she added.
“The scarcity changes those purchasing patterns,” she said.
