WASHINGTON -- The Biden medication said Wednesday it volition merchandise doses of medicine flu medicine from the Strategic National Stockpile to states arsenic flu-sickened patients proceed to flock to hospitals and doctors' offices astir the country.
This year's flu play has deed hard and early. Some radical are adjacent noticing bare shelves astatine pharmacies and market stores erstwhile they marque a tally for over-the-counter medicines arsenic cases person spiked. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the flu has resulted successful 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,300 deaths truthful acold this season.
“Jurisdictions volition beryllium capable to get the enactment they request to support Americans healthy arsenic flu cases emergence this winter,” Dawn O’Connell, an adjunct caput for preparedness and effect astatine the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees the CDC, said successful a statement.
States volition beryllium capable to petition doses of the medicine flu medicine Tamiflu kept successful the Strategic National Stockpile from HHS. The medication is not releasing however galore doses volition beryllium made available.
Last week, HHS besides announced it would let states to dip into statewide stockpiles for Tamiflu, making millions of attraction courses available. Tamiflu tin beryllium prescribed to dainty flu successful radical implicit the property of 2 weeks old.
This flu play is coming connected the heels of a nasty spike of RSV, oregon respiratory syncytial virus, cases successful children and conscionable arsenic COVID-19 cases are climbing — again.
Spot shortages of over-the-counter symptom relievers and medicines person been reported astatine stores astir the country, peculiarly for children.
CVS Health, for example, has placed a two-product bounds connected each children’s symptom alleviation products bought done its pharmacies oregon online. Walgreens is limiting customers online to six purchases of children’s over-the-counter fever reducing products.
The Food and Drug Administration has not reported a shortage of Tamiflu. However, the national bureau says the medicine antibiotic amoxicillin is successful abbreviated proviso owed to accrued demand.
———
AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe successful New York contributed to this report.
English (US)