Limited amounts of the one million units of imported children’s pain relievers have started to trickle onto pharmacy shelves across Canada, with more expected to arrive this week. Or maybe, next..“The big question is ‘Will there be enough?’ We don’t really know,” says Matt Tachuk, director of Pharmacy Practice at Alberta Pharmacists’ Association..“We probably won’t know until it arrives and see what the initial uptake is. Once it arrives and makes its way onto pharmacy shelves, we’ll see how quickly it’s moving.”.“Health Canada helped to bring in the one million bottle of children acetaminophen. Just talking with different colleagues here, my sense is that it will make its way into Alberta probably mid-week. And then from there it will filter out to pharmacies.”.That applies across Canada..Parents and caregivers have anxiously awaited the arrival of these medicines from the US, with more said to be on the way from Australia. But how much of the delay in getting medication onto shelves to relieve crying children’s pain and fever was caused by Health Canada’s priority to ensure “measures are in place so all imported products have the necessary labelling information available in both languages.”.No one argues that bilingual labelling contributed to the delay. But no one will say how much of a delay the requirement to abide Canada’s language laws caused..Health Canada did not return calls..When asked, Johnson & Johnson provided a brief written statement that didn’t answer the question: “We are committed to helping Canadians get access to the consumer health products they need. We have maximized domestic production and have partnered with Health Canada to find alternate solutions, which includes being granted a temporary exception to import a limited amount of Children’s TYLENOL® from our global supply. We are working to have our imported Children’s TYLENOL® product available in stores across Canada.”.Health Canada insisted that having instructions on bottles of desperately needed children’s medication in both English and French is a critical safety measure to address dosing and administration directions, and ingredients..Well. If that’s so, how do the countless Canadians in need of children’s medication manage, who speak and read neither English nor French, but a host of other languages?.It’s doubtful that even the most ardent Francophone parents in search of medication for their sick children would have been offended by English-only labelling. Yet bilingual labelling took precedence over children’s health while Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam lectured parents on making their children wear masks and Health Canada continues to urge people not to stockpile children’s meds — if they can even find them..On October 5 Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the government was in touch with manufacturers and pharmacists. “Let’s be very clear. The situation is under relative control. No one needs to, you know, be so afraid as to rush and accumulate tons of drugs and medicines,” he said..Tell that to Canadian parents who have since frantically gone from one pharmacy to another in search of medication, then to several more and even across the US border (causing shortages there.) That would be specifically acetaminophen and ibuprofen products, better known as Tylenol and Advil, to relieve their children’s fever and pain due to anything from teething to colds, to extreme cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. Pharmacies have been fielding countless desperate calls..The shortages began due to an unprecedented demand last summer, leading to drug companies facing manufacturing challenges..On October 7, Health Canada announced it was working with manufacturers and suppliers — including Johnson & Johnson, Haleon and PharmaScience — to meet the demand. Production was increased and “companies who supply Canada have been provided pathways to import foreign products," said Health Canada..“As the health of infants and children remains our top priority, all options to solve this shortage are on the table,” said Health Canada in a statement..But bilingual labelling was a priority..Another 500,000 units have been ordered and are expected to arrive within the next few weeks, Duclos told a press conference Friday..If the current shipment — yet to arrive — is quickly depleted, waiting parents won’t be worried about whether that next shipment has bilingual labels. The federal government is the only entity concerned about that..But thank goodness the feds have solved one critical problem. Leaflets or pamphlets will be handed out with children’s medications — if anyone can find them..“Hopefully, we’ll get more in if the demand exceeds what the one million allows for,” said Tachuk.
