One would think that the reduction in the number of people requiring mechanical ventilation for COVID-19 would ameliorate the shortages in medications used during ventilation. Unfortunately, it has not done so.
Almost every drug class used for mechanical ventilation—sedatives, analgesics, paralytics and vasopressors—is still in short supply, according to the FDA.
There are several reasons for this and some are directly related to COVID-19, according to Peter Papadakos, MD,