That's the message as flu-shot season officially began Wednesday with a call for a record number to be inoculated - including 30 million more school-age children than ever before targeted.
"Get out there and get protected and protect others, and for sure protect your children," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"People should start getting vaccinated now, yesterday actually," added Dr. William Schaffner, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
There's ample supply: 143 million to 146 million doses, more than ever before manufactured. Unlike last year, when a surprise new influenza strain emerged, the CDC's checks of parts of the world where flu virus already is circulating show that this year's vaccine is a good match and should offer plenty of protection.
Flu kills about 36,000 Americans a year, and hospitalizes about 200,000.
Add up everyone whom the CDC recommends get vaccinated, and 261 million Americans now qualify. Last year, just 113 million of the 140 million doses produced were used - spurring a bid for new ways, from inoculations at schools to voting booths, to spread the advice.
"I should have got Emily a flu shot," a mother says with despair in a hard-hitting video of families who lost children to the flu that CDC just posted on YouTube, part of this year's special push to vaccinate children.
For the first time, the CDC is advising that every child age 6 months to 18 years be inoculated, unless they have a serious egg allergy.
- The Associated Press
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