Many people still regard the flu as just another miserable inevitability of winter.
They pass up flu shots, in part because public-health authorities have long said the flu vaccine is mainly for the sick and elderly. Moreover, about 70 percent of the sick and 40 percent of the elderly skip the shots. Although there's no way to predict how bad this flu season will be, the past five winters have been unusually severe. Just three months after publishing the new recommendation, however, the CDC announced that this year's vaccine will be delayed and might even be in short supply due to manufacturing glitches. Whether or not the expected vaccine shortage materializes, it's important to know all of your prevention and newer treatment options.