Walgreens, CVS limit sales of kids’s medications amid ‘tripledemic’

CVS and Walgreens are limiting what number of kid’s pain relief medications people should purchase without delay amid a winter “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses, the businesses said Monday.

In an announcement, CVS said it’s limiting the variety of pain relief medications to 2. Walgreens customers should purchase six over-the-counter pediatric fever reducers, the corporate said in an announcement.

“Resulting from increased demand and various supplier challenges, over-the-counter pediatric fever reducing products are seeing constraint across the country,” Walgreens said.

The cap applies to products bought online or on the pharmacies, the businesses said.

Walmart said in an announcement that although the corporate has seen higher demand for pediatric medication this 12 months, it has been in a position to meet that demand and no purchase limits are in place.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the agency had been tracking surging demand for medication.

“Every operating division across HHS is engaged and playing a pivotal role in addressing these concerns,” the spokesperson said in an announcement.

In a separate statement, the Food and Drug Administration added that it will possibly’t require corporations to fabricate medications, nevertheless it is working closely with drugmakers to “understand, mitigate and stop or reduce the impact of intermittent or increased demand of certain products.

“The FDA understands that manufacturers expect availability to proceed to extend within the near future,” the statement said.

Doctors this fall saw an early surge in respiratory illnesses amongst young children, with babies and preschool-age kids catching the flu and other viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Several kid’s hospitals within the U.S. also recently detected a severe and invasive type of strep that has killed no less than 15 children in the UK since mid-September.

As of Monday, 78% of the inpatient beds in nearly 5,000 hospitals across the country were filled, in keeping with data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly the identical percentage of intensive care beds were in use, in keeping with the info.

In accordance with data posted Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of individuals catching the flu remained high but had declined in some areas.

The agency recorded nine pediatric deaths last week, bringing the number of kids who’ve died from the illness this season to 30. Overall, the agency estimated 150,000 flu hospitalizations and 9,300 deaths.

The respiratory viruses have hit young children hard because many remained at home after the coronavirus pandemic hit nearly three years ago, leaving their immune systems vulnerable to common illnesses, experts have said.

— Valeriya Antonshchuk contributed.