Doctors suggest getting flu shots

ATLANTA -- Last year at this time, we were in the midst of a swine flu pandemic.

An unusually high number of children and young adults were falling ill with H1N1 influenza, and sometimes dying. We were washing our hands like crazy and covering our coughs with our sleeves, desperate to keep from getting sick or spreading the virus. And a vaccine was still weeks away.

This year, with the pandemic over, we're back to a more typical flu season.

Vaccine has arrived before the flu, not the other way around.

Awareness of influenza is higher than ever because of last year's pandemic. And partly because of that, drugstores are offering the vaccine earlier than usual.

"It's really different this year," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who was often the agency's face at weekly news conferences last year.

But health officials are quick to emphasize that there is no such thing as a typical flu season.

"Flu is unpredictable," Schuchat said. "Every season is different."

Experts make no guesses about whether the coming flu season will be mild or severe. But for the first time, the CDC says everyone in the country over age 6 months should get vaccinated.

In previous years, the emphasis was on vaccinating people in "high risk" groups. They included the elderly, the very young and those with chronic medical conditions.

In recent years, older children were added to the vaccine recommendation. Then last year, because teens and young adults were unusually susceptible to H1N1, they were also categorized as high risk. That was almost everyone, so this year's recommendation for universal vaccination is just another step in the progression.

There should be plenty of vaccine available - about 165 million doses - for anyone who wants it, Schuchat said.

Some retail pharmacies began offering flu shots and nasal spray vaccine in August, rather than in September and October.

"As soon as you see it in your area, it's reasonable to get it," Schuchat said.

This year, unlike last year, there won't be two vaccines - one for the pandemic H1N1 virus and one to fight seasonal flu. There's a single vaccine that protects against three strains of flu virus, including the H1N1 virus that caused last year's pandemic.

This year's vaccine also targets H3N2, a virus that has been circulating in the Southern Hemisphere and was responsible for small outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere this summer.

Health officials think this year's vaccine is on target to fight flu strains that will affect the U.S. this fall and winter.

The other good news is that many people adopted new, healthy behaviors after last year's pandemic.

"Hand-washing has really caught on," said Dr. Martin Cetron, an infectious disease expert at the CDC. "Everywhere I go, I see people sneezing into their elbow. All over the world."