MIDLAND, Texas — It doesn't matter what pharmacy you go to, shelves are either almost empty or completely bare when it comes to cold and flu medicine.
"I've been here for 10 years and this is probably one of the worst ones I've seen yet," said Setor Akati, Pharmacist at Doctors Pharmacy in Midland.
Especially when it comes to kids cold and flu medication, prescription and over the counter.
"It's all on backorder, Tylenol, Zyrtec, Children's Ibuprofen, Children's Tylenol, anything children's, it's all on backorder," said Akati.
Pharmacies are ordering everything they possibly can, but this is a nationwide problem.
"Sometimes I try and order 20, if there's only one available I just say hey, give me the one," said Akati.
Some pharmacies are putting limits on certain products to prevent medicine from getting into the wrong hands.
Akati said he has set some limits on what can be purchased.
"We try to restrict them on how many people can get it, because of course people try to hoard some and maybe go and sell them on the outside market for high dollar prices so we try to limit it to you know, one per family," Akati said.
If you need a certain medicine, call your pharmacy first to see if they have what you need in stock or if they are getting any in soon.
Also make sure you are vaccinated and take the necessary precautions to stay healthy.
"Just really, really stay healthy, continue wearing a mask, if you have a cough, cold, don't go to work, don't go to school, don't spread it because everyone's kind of sick all over the place now," Akati said.
HEB sent NewsWest 9 a statement saying, "This is a nationwide issue impacting all retailers and our team is working hard to provide our customers with the items they need. We continue to receive the product and restock our shelves weekly."