Countdown to Flu Season

news you may not know

Are You...

Ready?

Invite friends over - check. Marinate the steaks - check. Fire up the grill - check. Schedule a flu shot - "Honey, did you just say???"

Seem a little early to be thinking about the ravages of flu? Not if you work at the Centers for Disease Control. Caught shorthanded in years past, the CDC is determined to avoid the public health risk of a vaccine shortage. Not to mention the embarrassment.

100 million. Apparently the CDC likes round numbers as much as the rest of us, and the 100 million doses to be shipped this year exceed the 2003 record by almost 17 million. Shipments have already begun and by the end of October providers should have close to 75 million doses on hand.

How about you? CDC recommends 200 million Americans get an annual flu shot. Less than 100 million, however, actually lend an arm to the cause. Seems a lot like voting, doesn't it?

To learn more, see the CDC's Key Facts About Influenza.