Categories: News

2020’s latest (but least surprising) shortage: antacids

The combination of pandemic woes, election burnout, stress drinking, and perhaps a few ill-conceived comfort meals have all conspired to give America a giant case of agita. These arduous physical conditions have led to 2020’s latest shortage: antacids. According to The New York Times, over-the-counter medications such as Pepcid, Tums, and their generic counterparts have been selling out around the country and online, resulting in Wegmans putting a two-product limit on items containing the antacids’ active ingredient, famotidine. But it’s not just acid reflux sufferers doing the buying. Earlier this year, preliminary studies suggested that famotidine could decrease coronavirus symptoms—President Trump reportedly used it as part of his recovery regimen—which led to a national buying spree. And while researchers continue to siphon off some of the manufacturers’ stock, the scarcity is expected to last into the near future. For the rest of us, it might be time to lay off the charcuterie boards and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Related Post
The Counter and The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter and The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

2 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

2 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

2 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

2 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago