Students are returning to US classrooms which in turn remind people of getting the flu shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that every year about 5 to 20 percent of the US population gets the flu. Therefore the US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that everyone above the age of six months should be vaccinated.

This year’s flu vaccine had started shipping at the end of July by manufacturers. Ultimately 155 million doses should be available for the coming flu season.

The virus should protect against three flu viruses as usual. This year the vaccine is formulated for an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the H1N1 virus which grabbed headlines in the previous season.

The World Health Organization declared an end to the H1N1 pandemic but warned that it does not conclude that the H1N1 virus does not exist any longer. It, instead means that the virus has moved to an intensity which is similar to that present during seasonal epidemics.

H1N1 was responsible for closing at least 1,947 schools across the United States during autumn last year influencing more than 600,000 students.