Major U.S. pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have restricted sales of baby formula in response to a worsening shortage of the special milk.
“Following supplier challenges and increased customer demand, we currently have a limit of three baby formula products per purchase in our stores and online,” CVS spokeswoman Monica Prinzing said in a statement.
Since recent weeks big pharmacies are imposing limits on how many cans customers can buy at a time.
The shortages intensified after Abbott Nutrition recalled powdered baby formula products manufactured at its Michigan plant, after four babies were hospitalized with bacterial infections and two died.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said those cases were related to the same baby milk manufacturer. The recall affected the Similac, Alimentum and EleCare brands.
The situation deteriorated even further last month. As the problem was starting to hit the news parents raced to stock up.
Pressure is building on the Biden administration to respond to the issue. Republicans are calling it a “national crisis” that the White House must address.
As of April 13, about 31% of formula products were out of stock across the country, according to retail software company Datasembly.
