Local pharmacies still stocked amid nationwide medication shortage during flu and COVID season

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – People in Lompoc are having mixed luck finding medication at local drug stores and pharmacies because of illnesses going around this season.

Lompoc residents said it’s been challenging to find specific medications, while others said they have medication delivered to their homes or work without a problem.

At Tenet Health Central Coast, pharmacists said their pharmacies are fully stocked with medication and can meet the demand.

However, they said the retail demand is different from the hospital demand.

At Lompoc Valley Medical Center, hospital officials said they’ve been busy because so many have gotten sick with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19 and the flu.

Some workers have also called out sick.

“For instance, if one of the departments has a couple of call-outs, we've been blessed enough that our volume here at the hospital, our inpatient side, is not warranting all the stuff we have currently," said Ryan Stevens, LVMC emergency room and critical care unit director. "So we can float some of our stuff, for instance, from our ICU to our medicines to accommodate any of those gaps and stuff.”

Earlier Tuesday, a Lompoc man told News Channel 3-12 he is struggling to find a medication that alleviates his nausea.

Although it isn’t an illness related to the viruses and flu going around right now, he said he hasn’t been able to find it since the beginning of the pandemic.

Another resident said she got COVID-19 last year so she's being extra careful this year, and that she is prepared with some Nyquil, Dayquil, and cough drops just in case.