Canada facing ongoing shortage of cold, flu medication

As Canada faces an ongoing shortage of cold and flu medication, prime minister Justin Trudeau says that he doesn’t know if ramping up local production of drugs is the right approach.

If you’re looking for certain cold and flu medications, like children’s Tylenol and Advil, and even some adult cough syrups you may be out of luck.

At Houser’s pharmacy on Hamilton mountain across from CF Limeridge mall, they have a shortage of cold and flu medication in liquid form, but they do have a decent supply of pills. But at Houser’s and other pharmacies, they can actually make the medication you may need.

“We can compound Tylenol and Advil suspensions and provide those to patients and normally we can make those within an hour or so and provide them in a timely manner,” Pharmacist Kyle Nagel said.

Prime minister Justin Trudeau addressed the shortage and said he doesn’t know if increased production of medication in Canada is the answer, “if we had a big orange shortage in Canada, people might be shouting ‘we need to build more greenhouses to grow more oranges in Canada’… yes we would be reliant in terms of oranges, but it might not be the best way to spend our money… or could we source them from different places from around the world so we can ensure we get our oranges… gonna be the same thing with children’s Tylenol and Aspirin.”