Target Limits Purchases of Children’s Medicines amid ‘Tripledemic’

Target is restricting purchases of specific children’s medicines as the nation endures what has been dubbed the “tripledemic” — a rise in cases of flu, coronavirus, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Shoppers trying to find Tylenol, Advil, and Motrin are only allowed two per transaction on the store’s website or inside its brick and mortar locations, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

CVS and Walgreens are also limiting purchases of those medicines, the outlet said, adding, “At CVS, only two boxes of medication can be purchased at a time in-store and online. Walgreens has limited online purchased to six at a time.”

Demand is growing as the flu and RSV mainly affect children across the nation.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the name behind brands that produce painkillers, explained the shortage is due to the increase in demand “driven by a rise in pediatric cases of respiratory illnesses including the flu, COVID, and RSV.”

Cases of flu and RSV have reached levels not experienced in past years, and hospitals have been full of patients.

“According to official data, 70 percent of US hospital beds are currently occupied. Earlier this month, the figure reached 80 percent, a high point even for the Covid pandemic,” the Mail report said.

In November, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said one of the reasons the healthcare system is seeing so many RSV cases is “because of COVID, because of all the mitigation strategies that we’ve had over the last several years.”

“We have several years of children who’ve never seen RSV before. And because of that, we have these layers and more children who are requiring hospitalization than we see generally in a given season,” she added.

The Mayo Clinic’s website said the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes infections in a person’s lungs and in their respiratory tract, adding that although it is common in young children, it can also make an adult sick.

“In adults and older, healthy children, RSV symptoms are mild and typically mimic the common cold,” the site continued.

The Mail report said there is hope the wave of illness will begin slowing down in the near future, as flu cases have dropped, along with cases of RSV.