Children’s Tylenol and Motrin shortage in ‘extremely challenging’ cold and flu season: Massachusetts congressional members push for answers from Johnson & Johnson

As Bay State families desperately search for cold and flu medicine for their children, Massachusetts congressional members are pushing for answers from Johnson & Johnson about the major shortage.

Local residents are facing a shortage of infant and children’s Tylenol and Motrin amid this challenging cold and flu season, which has been compounded by a surge of RSV and COVID, the lawmakers wrote to Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato on Thursday.

“As the manufacturer of both of these products, Johnson & Johnson has a critical role to play in addressing this shortage,” wrote the four legislators — Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Katherine Clark, and Rep. Lori Trahan.

“Families in the Commonwealth are relying on access to ibuprofen and acetaminophen in order to care for their babies,” the lawmakers added. “In recent public statements, Johnson & Johnson reported an increase in production to meet growing demand. However, our constituents are still visiting store after store only to find empty shelves.”

The congressional members asked for information from Johnson & Johnson to better understand the scale and scope of the shortage. The data they’re seeking is key for collaborating with hospitals, community health centers and other health care providers to support local families, they said.

“While medical providers are doing their best to triage in-person care and provide guidance on at-home remedies for monitoring and treatment, there is no doubt that these medicines are essential,” the legislators wrote.

Their questions include: How much has production increased? By what date will that increase in production match demand? By what date will normal availability of product in Massachusetts be restored?

“Please provide any data that Johnson and Johnson has on regional and city-by-city impact in an aim of further understanding the scale and scope of this shortage,” they added.

Johnson & Johnson continues to face high consumer demand driven by an “extremely challenging” cold and flu season, the corporation said in a statement.

“While products may be less readily available at some stores, we are not experiencing widespread shortages of Children’s TYLENOL or Children’s MOTRIN,” Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health said in a statement.

“We recognize this may be challenging for parents and caregivers, and are doing everything we can to make sure people have access to the products they need, including maximizing our production capacity, running our sites 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and continuously shipping out product,” the company added. “We will continue to partner with retailers to provide these products to consumers.”