In his Northland home Friday morning, Kaleb Jones, 6, is full of life and energy."I want that game," Kaleb says as he watches a YouTube video in the family room.But for Kaleb, this year has been nothing like a game. In February, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "He's been on an intense chemo journey," his mother, Jessica Jones, said.Even though his cancer is now in remission, that chemo journey will have to continue for another two years as doctors work to make sure it stays in remission.One of the drugs used for Kaleb's chemotherapy, and thousands of other kids across the country, Vincristine, is now in short supply.Jones first heard that news earlier this week. "At the moment, I didn’t really understand the severity of it," she said "As the night went on, I started seeing posts about the shortage and I started reading about what different doctors were saying about how severe it was."Kids in hospitals across the country, including Children's Mercy where Kaleb goes, will have to miss doses of the crucial drug. Right now, Jones isn't sure if her son will be able to get his dose."He’ll have an appointment on Monday," she said. "But the last I was told from our doctor is that he wasn’t going to receive it."Doctors at the hospital said they heard news of this shortage the same time as everyone else."It came to us extremely fast," said Dr. Alan Gamis, chief of the oncology section. "So the past week we’ve been scrambling to come up with plans."Those plans mean that some kids will have to miss their doses until supply is back to where it should be, which has proven to be a moving target. Earlier in the week, hospitals were told by drug makers they may not get another shipment until next year. Now, the FDA estimated another shipment could be in later this month or next month. Doctors said the lowest risk kids, those who are in remission, will be the ones that may have to miss a dose or two. They're working to make sure those missed doses have the smallest effect."We are utilizing the best evidence-based medicine and adapting their therapy so it has the least impact, if any impact, upon their ultimate cure rate," Gamis said.Until this summer, there were two pharmaceutical companies that made Vincristine, Pfizer and Teva. According to the FDA, Teva made a "business decision" and stopped making the drug in July. Pfizer has had trouble with manufacturing since then, which led to the current shortage."That makes me pretty angry," Jones said. "I just don’t understand how it’s allowed to get to this point."Doctors agree, pointing out that this is just the latest in several shortages of drugs they've had to deal with in recent years. With some hoping lawmakers can create some kind of regulation or a safety net to prevent this from happening again."In the United States, this shouldn't be happening," Gamis said. "We feel like we're starting to fall back to a third-world country at times. There's no excuse for this."