Utahns can expect plentiful flu vaccine

Doses of flu vaccine are expected to be widely available this season, so no demographic group is getting first dibs. In recent years, with various shortages, people at high risk of complications have been given time to get vaccinated before it was made available to the general populace.

There is special help this season in the form of a Flu Vaccine Locator, an online search tool run by the Utah Department of Health that's geared to highlight who has the vaccine and when they'll be distributing it, as well as cost and any other relevant information. Visit www.immunize-Utah.org and click the locate button, then enter the county and date you'd like to be vaccinated.

Rebecca Ward, education outreach coordinator for the health department, says providers order vaccine from different suppliers, who usually send out small shipments to see that everyone gets some. There will likely be times throughout the season when "someone else may have it and you don't. But we're not expecting any actual shortage. What's available is based on the timing."

This year, flu-vaccine clinics themselves can update the data on the locator, so how much information is available depends on how diligent they are at keeping the data current. The state Health Department is reminding them about updates every week. And because the information changes often, Ward says people need to check back if they don't find what they want.

This year's vaccines were created to ward off two A strains of influenza — New Caledonia and Wisconsin — and the B strain Malaysia.

Flu is a contagious respiratory ailment caused by virus, not bacteria, so antibiotics don't do a whit of good against it and also increase the risk of later antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms are often harsh, with respiratory problems, chills, fever, headaches and general aches.

The National Influenza Vaccine Summit Newsletter noted that 75 million doses of vaccine are expected to be distributed by Oct. 31, enough that anyone who wants it should be able to get it. The possible exception is toddlers. If there is a gap, it is likely to be with vaccine for that age group, and emphasis will be placed on getting the vaccine to kids 6 months to 23 months old, since they are at greatest risk of hospitalization, the CDC says.

As many as 1 in 5 Americans get flu each year, with more than 200,000 hospitalized. About 36,000 Americans die of flu each year.