Sandra Gannon: We must act now to stop medicines running out

The essential ingredients for common drugs are largely produced in the countries worst-hit by Covid-19. We could soon be facing shortages of antibiotics, paracetamol, statins and other medication

We could soon be facing shortages of medications. Picture: Getty

It is inevitable that the Irish medicine supply chain will face disruption and shortages due to Covid-19. Those shortages will probably manifest themselves sooner than we think. We are looking at months, rather than days or weeks, but soon.

The good news, in theory, is that there is safety stock built into all pharmaceutical companies’ demand planning processes – enough to fulfil demand for medicines for an average of three to four months.

The bad ...