Flu Season Sparks Cough Syrup Shortage

SAN JOSE - Flu season is heating up, and as a result, many pharmacies across the Bay Area are running low on cough syrup with codeine. Codeine is a drug that helps people deal with the cough that sometimes comes with the flu.

Norm Fox is the Director of Pharmacy at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy. He says hospital pharmacies are mostly unaffected, but neighborhood pharmacies are experiencing a shortage.

“More so out in the community in the retail pharmacies where patients are coming in with prescriptions and have basically drained the supply,” Fox said.

NBC Bay Area contacted small pharmacies and larger chain drug stores across the region. Several employees said shipments of cough syrup with codeine are sporadic, and sometimes patients are given smaller amounts to ration supply.

Another pharmacist says as soon as the shipments come in they go out to patients right away.

Some pharmacies in Southern California are also facing a shortage.

“There was one generic company that did decrease their manufacturing and sometimes that has a rippling effect,” Fox said.

Daniel Bawol is fighting the flu and heard of a shortage. He was happy to receive a medication that was in stock.

“I think my doctor knew there was a shortage so prescribed me a different sort of medication,” Bawol said.

Fox says if your pharmacy is out of the cough syrup with codeine, there are other options.

“Talk to your pharmacist. Describe your symptoms, we can help you pick things over the counter to get you through this,” Fox said.

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