Australian panic buyers have caused shortages of essential medications like inhalers to stay ahead of the expected COVID-19 tsunami, thereby leaving asthmatics who are truly dependent on it at risk.
Inhalers like Ventolin and Nebules are now becoming hard to come as some Australians hoard supplies as the true nature of the CCP virus starts to become clear outside of the Chinese regime’s censorship. Many small scale dispensaries have run out of them.
NTD refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.
Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly agreed with pharmacies and resellers to restrict the issuance of over the counter medications like Ventolin and Paracetamol to one piece per purchase, or, in the case of prescription drugs, a one-month-supply per transaction.
“Please do not buy more than you need,” Kelly said, 7News reported. “I will repeat that—please do not buy more than you need for anything—whether that’s food and particularly medicines.”
“We have a very good system of knowing about medicine shortages in Australia, and in fact, it is incumbent on all medicine suppliers that they must tell us if there is a shortage now or shortly into the future,” Kelly said. “We have not had that from any suppliers.”
About 2.7 million Australians are suffering from mild to severe forms of asthma. Many of them are dependent on an inhaler; for some, it is even lifesaving. With the latest raid on pharmacies and drugstore—for a considerable part by non-asthmatics—many have taken to social media to “vent” their frustrations.
“I am asthmatic,” one Facebook user wrote. “And was only allowed one Ventolin and there will be no more supplies until mid-April,” 9Honey reported.
“Very cranky right now, for those who bought Ventolin because some nob (no medical evidence or training just some twits suggestions and many have obviously taken as legitimate) as a treatment method for COVID-19,” another wrote. “You’ve now compromised the health care of legitimate asthmatics who are not able to get their life-saving medication.”
“Basically, there’s a lot of people hoarding in a panic, but this is more harmful to local pharmacies, rather than the entire supply chain of medicines,” Greg Turnbull, Communications Director of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, told 9Honey about the current crisis.
“It’s important for people to be considerate and not deplete their local store shelves so that we all can access the necessary supplies from day-to-day,” he added.
“We strongly urge people to be considerate in their purchasing so that everyone can access what they need. Stockpiling medications is resulting in challenges for people to access a vital medication and is not recommended,” Asthma Australia declared on its website.
