"I really was panicked at that point"
Vicki Young says she went to get her seasonal flu shot like she does every year only this year:
"I was surprised, I walked up to the counter and asked for my flu shot and they said they only had 2 left and they were reserved for children and they were out after that and they were turning people away."
Many of the local pharmacies, like the ones inside Acme and Giant and Genaurdi's, will also soon start turning people away. Many are reporting a very limited supply of the seasonal flu vaccine left, partly due to manufacturers switching to the H1N1 vaccine and partly due to increased demand.
"It took us 3 weeks to distribute those doses."
Premier Immediate Healthcare also reports they are currently out of the seasonal flu vaccine but they did get 3,000 doses of the H1N1 Flu Mist vaccine. They started vaccinating staff Monday and they'll begin vaccinating the public on Tuesday.
"We're going to be following the CDC guidelines and hitting high priority targets," said Dr. Robert DiTizio of Premier Immediate Medical Center.
Those include healthy people between 2 and 24-years-old, healthcare workers, emergency responders, and caretakers of infants under 6-months-old or people with suppressed immune systems.
Doctors say if you normally get a seasonal flu shot you should still try to get one this year. They expect both strains to circulate this season.
The grocery store -pharmacy chains we mentioned do still have some seasonal flu vaccine but you have to act quickly.
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