Hard-Hit Areas Facing Shortage In Drugs That Fight Flu, CDC Says

January 16th, 2018

Health officials recommend calling ahead to pharmacies to make sure they have the antiviral in stock.

Yanina Manolova / Associated Press

Public health officials in Georgia say the flu season here hasn’t peaked yet. But some metro-Atlanta pharmacies are already having trouble filling antiviral prescriptions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said while there’s “an adequate national supply,” areas that are getting hit hard by influenza, like Georgia and California, are facing a shortage of drugs that fight the flu.

“We realize that you may have to go to more than one pharmacy,” said CDC’s Chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch Alicia Fry. “And hopefully that shortage is temporary and will be resolved and people won’t continue to have this problem.”

Fry said the CDC is working with pharmaceutical manufacturers to redirect supplies to areas that are getting hit the hardest.

CDC officials said this year’s flu season is different because it’s hitting 49 states simultaneously.

“That hasn’t happened in the last 13 years and maybe has not happened at once in the past,” said Dan Jernigan, who heads the CDC’s Influenza Division.

Health officials recommend calling ahead to pharmacies to make sure they have the antiviral in stock.