DELAWARE- A treatment for the flu is in high demand and short supply on Delmarva.
Tamiflu is an anti-viral medication to treat the flu and sometimes prevent sickness after being exposed. Most pharmacies are out. Others are in low supply.
"We don't know at this point when we are going to get some more," Pharmacist Pat Carroll-Grant said.
At Cape Pharmacy Tamiflu has been on backorder for weeks.
"We're getting spurts of it. A couple packages here and there, but currently it's saying it is not available from the warehouse," Carroll-Grant said.
For patients testing positive, it's frustrating. Alex Shores just recovered from the flu and his wife is currently battling it. Neither of them have been able to get their hands on Tamiflu.
"They don't have it [at Cape Pharmacy] and Walgreens has been sending people here," Shores said.
WRDE called five pharmacies in Sussex County and none of them had supply.
It's alarming local clinicians like Lindsay Albanese that typically prescribe Tamiflu.
"There are other variations of anti-viral flu medications out there. The issue is that sometimes they can be expensive and not readily carried at pharmacies," Albanese said.
Many health professionals agreed that the best substitute for Tamiflu is an over the counter medicine like Tylenol.