Lock up your Lemsip!

SUPPLIES of cold and flu medicines are running short amid soaring demand as seasonal illnesses take a grip on Britain. Scramble for cold and flu remedies as stores run short amid soaring illness

With Covid-19 and flu cases surging, remedies such as Lemsip, Day and Night Nurse and own-brand treatments have been selling out at pharmacies and supermarkets.

One Boots worker in London said: ‘We don’t have any Lemsip powder or our own brand cold and flu sachets – only Beechams. We’ve not had any for two to three weeks. I believe there are supply problems.’

Pharmacists in Northern Ireland have also reported shortages.

Brian Brolly, of Grahame’s Pharmacy in Lisburn, said different formulations of Day and Night Nurse and Lemsip had run out. ‘Out of the five or six different variations of Lemsip only two are currently available,’ he told the News Letter website. ‘Everything else has been out of stock.’

He added: ‘The combination pack Day and Night Nurse capsules have sold out.

Those we have not been able to get for quite a while.’

Demand from customers this year had been ‘extreme’, both for over-the-counter and prescribed medicines, he added. ‘It has been a challenge.’ On social media, meanwhile, scores of people reported struggling to find cold and flu remedies, including at supermarkets such as Waitrose and Tesco.

One woman wrote on Twitter: ‘Genuine question. Is there a Lemsip shortage? Been to over eight different shops since before Christmas and the shelves are totally bare.’

Another posted: ‘I have been floored with a nasty bug since Christmas Day. Started feeling better yesterday and thankfully just cold-like symptoms now. There’s so much of it about.

‘Apparently there’s been a shortage of Lemsip and paracetamol because of it!’

But one Twitter user made light of the shortage, writing: ‘Why is no one discussing the shortage of Lemsip! How am I going to deal with this man flu?’

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust urged those visiting the county for New Year celebrations at the weekend to bring their own medications including cold remedies.