Tamiflu harder to find in Georgia-Carolina pharmacies

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Children's Tamiflu is getting harder to find at local pharmacies and some Georgia-Carolina parents say they’re having to search long and hard to find it in stock. “It's a demand, but we can't supply. We do not have it in the warehouse and we don't know when they will be able to supply it to us,” Robert Peek, a pharmacist at Hill Drug, said. Hill Drug Pharmacy is one of many in the CSRA trying to keep Tamiflu in stock. On Thursday, Stacey Hudson experienced the shortage for herself. “Emerson came down with the case of crankies, which is unlike her, and then she came down with a fever. So we just took her to the doctor knowing that was unlike her personality. They gave her a flu test and they said it was H1N1,” Hudson explained. Hudson's doctor wrote her a prescription for Tamiflu, but that's when her search began. “It took about five hours to find Tamiflu for children. We physically went to 10 to 11 different pharmacies and we called maybe 20 before we got the very last bottle at Hill Drug on Monte Sano,” Hudson said. Pharmacists say even with the shortage, there are still options if you can't get the type of Tamiflu you're looking for. “We have the capsules, but the suspension, we are completely out. The supplier cannot supply it, far as we know,” Peek. Pharmacists say if they're out of children's liquid Tamiflu, ask your doctor if substituting a smaller dose of the adult version of Tamiflu is an option. And it the sick child can't swallow the pill form, they can be crushed up first. While Hudson says she's thankful her daughter is getting better, the household is not in the clear yet, now her husband's got the flu. Friday, the Food and Drug Administration also warned doctors and parents to be careful not to mix up teaspoons and milligram measurements in the dosage instructions for Tamiflu. Some cases were reported where prescriptions called for teaspoons, but the syringe included was marked in milligrams. U.S. health officials announced Friday the swine flu vaccine should be available as early as October 5th. The first batches of vaccine will protect six to seven million people.

 

NBC Augusta 26 News brings you straight to the point news, weather, and sports from Augusta and the CSRA. Meet our NBC Augusta 26 News staff!