Add to the list of worries for Ohio parents the apparent shortage of a medicine for which demand increases this time of year — amoxicillin. According to a report by WBNS, not only is the antibiotic harder to come by these days, but the Food and Drug Administration expects the problem to last for months.

Pediatric antibiotics have seen higher demand this year because of a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, COVID-19 and all the usual colds and bugs that spread like wildfire among children in the winter. Secondary infections from those illnesses can lead a doctor to prescribe amoxicillin, and according to WBNS, pharmacists are reporting significant

shortages.

That’s a problem, but may be a symptom of a larger one, as supply-chain woes continue.

“This has really underscored the vulnerability, and I’m hoping the FDA will take a look at this,” pharmacist Larry Schieber told WBNS.

In fact, the FDA has a long list of medications on its shortages and discontinuations list — 193 drugs, to be exact. At least in the case of amoxicillin, the Ohio Pharmacists Association says the problem is a few chemicals used in pediatric formulations that are sourced from abroad and not being shipped in time.

Can’t you just hear the sarcastic responses from those who lost jobs at downsized or shuttered American pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities? The same is true of too many other products, but in the case of pharmaceuticals, people are staying sick and suffering because they can’t get the medicine they need, when they need it.

If lawmakers, public officials, economic development organizations, entrepreneurs … all of us, really, chose to focus on returning domestic manufacturing to a level that ensured we would not be at the mercy of suppliers who may or may not choose to ship to us from abroad, imagine the possibilities. It could be just what the doctor ordered.

editorial@vindy.com