With the flu season all set to arrive, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is advising people aged six months and older to get immunized against the new strains of influenza.

The vaccination will be offered by the Alachua County Health Department and is already available at numerous retail stores, health care clinics and private physicians.

The FluMist vaccine will be provided to the students of Alachua County public school in the form of nasal spray for free from October 11. This year, even high school students will be participating in the FluMist program. Also, for the healthy individuals aging between 2 and 49, nasal spray has been allowed.

In the year 2009, swine flu hit the masses the most and led to a massive increase in illness, hospital admissions and fatalities. In the US, in April, swine flu affected 61 million people and took life of around 12,470.

No predictions about the impact of the flu can be made for the current year, as stated by Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease.

She said, "We don't know yet if this will be a good year or a bad year, but I am sure that it will be a busy year".

Like the last year, there won't be scarcity of vaccines for the upcoming season. The supply of vaccines will be delivered by six different manufacturers. About 5,500 doses of the injections and 200 doses of FluMist have been ordered by the Alachua County Health Department.