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Infant’s Tylenol is being sold online at 30 times the original price as predatory sellers cash in on the ‘tripledemic’ engulfing the United States.
Online pharmacies are charging up to $237 for a single 160mg box Infant’s Tylenol, which usually cost just $8.
A massive outbreak of flu, RSV and Covid, and other respiratory bugs among children has caused nationwide shortages of pediatric medication, including Tamiflu, Tylenol and the antibiotic amoxicillin.
Major pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens have been forced to ration stock to deal with the crisis that has rumbled on for months.
Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing Tamiflu – a flu drug used in hospitals – from the nation’s national emergency stockpile. Opening this stockpile is rare, and only used in emergency situations.
There are reports of Children’s and Infant’s Tylenol being sold at a 30-fold mark-up as many local pharmacies face shortages of the drug. Boxes of Tylenol have flown off shelves in recent months, as America is struck by a tripledemic of illnesses
Flu cases dropped 30 percent week-over-week, from 43,960 last week to 31,287 this week. It is another signal America’s ‘tripledemic’ is past its peak
Shoppers report finding an online retailer selling a single box of Infant’s Tylenol for $237.83.
The same medications is available for $8.79 from pharmacies like Walgreens.
Another website, Shop Smart Deals, offered a two-pack of Children’s Tylenol for $35. Two boxes of children’s Tylenol can be purchased individually for $6.99 each from Walgreens.
Both listings have been removed from the store’s offerings.
DailyMail.com found listings for Children’s Tylenol on ebay for $24.99, $19.95 and other prices that far exceed the typical over-the-counter cost for it.
Amazon said that its marketplace ‘prohibits sellers from exploiting an emergency by charging excessively high prices.’
Pharmacies that carry these drugs for normal prices have had trouble keeping them on shelves in some parts of the country.
Earlier this week, CVS said it would limit in-store and online purchases of children’s fever and pain medication – which includes Tylenol, Advil and Motrin – to two boxes each.
Walgreens has limited online purchases of the drugs to six purchases at a time, while no limit exists in-person.
Both CVS and Walgreens are out-of-stock of Children’s Tylenol online. Several New York City pharmacies checked by DailyMail.com did not have the medicine available for in-store pick-up either.
The CDC reports that 25 states are recording ‘very high’ levels of flu circulation, and eight states have reached the highest level the agency tracks. This is a fall from just two weeks ago, where 44 states were deemed to be suffering from ‘very high’ flu activity
Anecdotal reports have also swirled on social media of parents around the country having trouble getting the drugs for their children.
Some hospitals are feeling this shortage too. Tamiflu, the primary drug used by hospitals to treat the flu, has been hard to find in some areas of the country.
While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not officially consider the drug a nationwide shortage, regional scarcities have forced the HHS to step in.
The US’ leading health agency announced Wednesday that it would make the additional supply of Tamiflu available to hospitals from the nation’s national stockpile.
This stockpile is a collection of drugs stored by the government in case of a national emergency.
‘Today we are taking action so that every jurisdiction can meet the increased demand for Tamiflu this flu season,’ Dr Xavier Becerra, secretary of the HHS, said in a statement.
‘State stockpiles can be utilized, and if jurisdictions need access to the Strategic National Stockpile, they now have it to respond to the current seasonal flu outbreak.’
It all comes in response to the ‘tripledemic’ sweeping across America this season.
America has suffered an unusually brutal flu season this year, with experts describing it as the worst since the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic.
There are fears that so many Americans are vulnerable to the virus after their immune systems were depleted by two years of Covid mandates and lockdowns.
This swell of cases may finally have reached its peak, though.
During the week ending on December 10, the most recent CDC data, 31,287 confirmed flu case were recorded across the US.
This is a 30 percent drop from the 43,960 the previous week, and the first time this flu season week-over-week cases went down.
Cases of RSV are starting to drop too. The CDC recorded 4,391 new RSV cases during the week ending on December 10, a 63 percent fall from the previous week.
It is the first week with less than 10,000 confirmed cases since the week ending on October 15, and the lowest point since late-September.
Despite these decreases, the CDC still warns this surge of respiratory viruses will last deep into the winter.
An agency spokesperson told Fox 5 DC: ‘We anticipate that high levels of respiratory virus activity may continue for several more weeks, or possibly even months.’