What preceding poster said, it was prescribed very liberally, not that it was OTC.

Another aspect to this story is that people stockpile antibiotics - probably resulting from doctors prescribing a very large number of doses to begin with.

For even her family that reside in the US, whenever they make a trip back to Korea, they come back with bags full of antibiotic pills to replenish their local supply.

"Occasional" is a vast understatement. Yes, you had to have a prescription but you could get that by phone, without getting an appointment. Or the doctor would give you a prescription "just in case" when you were in for some other reason or with something obviously viral.

Oh, and "In 2014, 266.1 million courses of antibiotics are dispensed to outpatients in U.S. community pharmacies. This equates to more than 5 prescriptions written each year for every 6 people in the United States." (Which is somewhat later than the time I was thinking about.) (https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/data/outpatient-prescribi...)

For comparison, that page links to annual reports:

* 2011: "Healthcare providers prescribed 273.3 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 877 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons." (https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/data/report-2011.html)

* 2021: "Healthcare professionals prescribed 211.1 million antibiotic prescriptions—equivalent to 636 antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 persons." (https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/data/report-2021.html)