In Face of Tripledemic, CVS and Walgreens Limit Purchases of Kids’ Pain Meds

TUESDAY, Dec. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) — As a tripledemic of the flu, COVID and RSV continues to spread across the United States, customers at two major pharmacy chains will now be limited as to how much children’s pain relievers and fever-reducing medications they can buy for their sick child.

Both CVS and Walgreens confirmed the limits Monday, CNN reported, though they’ve approached it in different ways.

Walgreens is only limiting children’s pain medications purchased online. The limit is six per transaction. Meanwhile, CVS is limiting both in-store and online purchases to two products per transaction.

This happens as high numbers of young children are sickened by a string of respiratory viruses, including RSV, COVID-19 and flu. More than four of every 1,000 young children under age 5 have been hospitalized with RSV this season, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

While the numbers of RSV hospitalizations have seen a significant drop over the past month, numbers are still high. Flu and COVID activity is also high.

The medication limits are meant to “ensure equitable access,” according to a CVS statement, CNN reported.

“Due to increased demand and various supplier challenges, over-the-counter pediatric fever-reducing products are seeing constraint across the country,” Walgreens said in their statement, CNN reported. The limits were put into place “in an effort to help support availability and avoid excess purchases.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).