Tylenol hunger games: Children’s fever medication reselling for as much as $300 as desperate Canadian parents continue search
Desperate parents in Canada have taken unconventional approaches to finding children's Tylenol and Advil in Canada and beyond.
The popular children's cold and flu medications are at the centre of a nationwide shortage, reportedly caused by an influx of COVID-19, RSV and influenza infections as well as federal labelling standards, which require medications' packaging include both English and French ingredient lists. Adding to the severity of the situation, due to overcrowding the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has cancelled surgeries for patients except those who require emergency or urgent procedures in order to keep its ICUs open for the sickest children.
The requirement for bilingual labels on children's cold and flu medication has been preventing Canada from importing necessary medicine from the United States and Canada - though recent federal legislation has made it a little easier for Canadian pharmacies to import the drugs from other countries, at least for now.
Health Canada officials have announced that new imported supply of children's pain and fever medication is on the way in the coming weeks to help address the shortage, but won't reveal how much it's bringing in.
Resellers on sites like eBay and Amazon are trying to cash in on the shortage with listings for children's Advil and Tylenol and other cold and fever medication at heavily marked-up prices. Some listings on Amazon are as high as $300, but when those listings are inevitably taken down, similar ones go back up in their place in a vicious cycle.
A spokesperson for Amazon said in an email that sellers set their own product prices" and that policies are in place to ensure sellers are pricing their products competitively." The representative said Amazon actively monitors" listings and removes offers that violate policies.
EBay, too, has listings with inflated prices for children's cold and flu medications on its site. When asked for comment, a representative for eBay said a sweep is already underway" to remove these listings. The representative continued, saying that in the case of essential items, sellers may not attempt to unreasonably profit from increased demand or decreased supply caused by emergencies."
While the below eBay listings have been removed since this weekend, there are still inflated offers on eBay for as much as $105 (including shipping) for cherry-flavoured children's Tylenol.
Some sellers are listing the cold and fever medication with moderate price tags, but tacking on inflated shipping fees and costs.
Parents unable to find the medication in their areas or unable to pay inflated prices have taken drastic steps to find the medication, from asking friends to transport the drugs from the United States to creating large group chats to share live updates of which pharmacies have supply on hand.
We had friends in Michigan buy a few boxes of both regular kids' Tylenol and the infant formula," said James Frodyma, a father of four children ranging from six months to ten years of age. We couldn't find anything on the shelf during the summer."
Having so many kids - when one of them comes home sick, they infect the others, right? I'm going through a bottle every day, every day and a half, because all three of the older kids are getting sick. And they're taking pretty big quantities."
One parent, Celeste Ossel, said in an email that her family had found a compounding pharmacy to mix a custom bottle of children's acetaminophen.
We ... paid $14 for a compounded bottle from the pharmacy that could only be used for two weeks and needs to be refrigerated due to the instability of the product," she said. Some parents told the Star they had paid up to $60 for children's acetaminophen from compounding pharmacies around Toronto.
We needed to have some on hand for after our two-month-old had her immunizations," Ossel said.
Giovanna Gwilliams, another parent, spent a recent business trip to New York collecting children's Tylenol and Advil for members of a large group chat. The WhatsApp group includes approximately 65 women in Bloor West Village, according to Gwilliams.
I got a big response. I ended up bringing back at least 20 bottles of infant and kids' medicine," said Gwilliams in an interview.
Between two trips to the United States, Gwilliams says she spent approximately $150 USD on children's medication to bring back for her community.
The situation is concerning, for sure."
Aisling Murphy is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: aislingmurphy@thestar.ca