Amoxicillin shortage leads to frustration for parents dealing with kids’ infections

DURHAM, N.C. — For the past 10 months, parents have dealt with a shortage of Amoxicillin.

That’s the drug used to treat pneumonia, bronchitis and certain infections caused by bacteria.

A Durham parent told WRAL News he couldn’t find it at CVS Pharmacy at all for his sick child. We’ve reached out to CVS specifically about this.

They confirm there’s an industrywide supplier shortage of certain doses of Amoxicillin and they’re working with manufacturers to replenish supply as quickly as possible.

John Gilliam is a parent of two and a coworker of ours at WRAL. His family is dealing with ear infections.

“This morning the kids woke up, and they were complaining about sore throats and how their ears hurt, so we got an appointment right over here next to Southpoint,” Gilliam said.

They were prescribed Amoxicillin, but unable to get it from CVS.

“We normally go to the CVS that’s in the Target over here, and when we got here they were like ‘we have your prescription, but we don’t have that dosage,'” Gilliam said.

Gilliam said he was told by pharmacists that no CVS within miles had the drug. He would have to try Walgreens.

He found the 400-milligram dose he needed there. But this isn’t the first drug shortage he and pharmacists have had to deal with.

“We’ve seen some of the drugs as far as the antibiotics that seem to be out, there seem to be short-term back orders right now,” said Health Park Pharmacy Steve Adkins.

Adkins recommends having any prescription printed at the doctor’s office.

“If that pharmacy is out of that medication and they’re not able to meet your needs with changing the concentration, you’re then able to take that paper prescription to another pharmacy,” Adkins said.

Parents have also had to deal with shortages of over-the-coutner medications like Motrin and Tylenol in recent months.

Experts typically say you should not hoard medications and only buy what you need.