SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – About fifty people have died in South Carolina and hundreds of others have been hospitalized in the last few weeks from the flu.
Experts say we’re not even at the peak of flu season yet, and pharmacies on the Grand Strand and in the Pee Dee say they’re having a hard time keeping the drug that helps fight the flu, called Tamiflu, on the shelves.
That’s why dozens of people filled Surfside Beach Pharmacy Monday morning.
Chandra Burgess and her daughter were in the pharmacy early to grab a homemade, honey-like substance called Black Elderberry. The natural remedy is thought to treat and prevent the flu.
“With my shop, so many people are coming in, and then I see that they have it two days later. She doesn’t go to school, and I know that her immune system isn’t as strong as kids who do go to school, and I don’t want her to get it,” said Burgess.
Burgess says she’s not positive the remedy will work, but she’s willing to try anything to keep from getting sick.
“Anything that will work, and everybody said it worked, and I saw that he posted that he had it so I figured if I didn’t get it now that I wouldn’t get it,” said Burgess.
Matthew Baker says both of his parents have the flu. They haven’t been able to find Tamiflu, and Monday, he bought two jars of Black Elderberry as a substitute.
“They’re both in the bed right now. So, I’m just trying running errands for them. Dropping stuff off at the door. They’re leaving money at the door like a delivery service,” said Baker.
Pharmacist Daniel Bundrick showed us what he had left of the generic form of Tamiflu. He says other pharmacies have reached out to him asking him to transfer some to other stores.
“We use a wholesaler out of North Carolina called Mutual, and they’ve been supplying us well, but there’s a lot of folks that we’re getting transfers from other pharmacies because they just can’t get the Tamiflu.”
We asked him if natural remedies, like Black Elderberry, really work.
“I still like Tamiflu more when you have the flu – even though it is a drug and it has it’s side effects. Elderberry I really like for prevention, but there’s even studies showing that it helps with the flu also. A tablespoon a day is preventative. A tablespoon three times a day for adults is good for treatment,” said Bundrick.
Bundrick says he got sixty jars of Elderberry Sunday afternoon, and they were sold out within the first two hours they opened Monday. One jar costs about $27.
Bundrick says there is a commercially made Elderberry called Sambucol, but like many other places, Surfside Beach Pharmacy is sold out of that as well.
