Julie Gerberding Flu Quotations

Fortunately, this year the flu season is not off to an early start, and there is plenty of time for people to get their shots,

Well, we're just at the beginning of the flu season, so we can't predict whether this is going to be a serious year or not, ... We have 20 million more doses of flu vaccine to get out there, and our goal is to get those doses to the people who need it the most before the season really speeds up.

We're watching the situation with the avian flu very carefully, taking the steps that need to be taken now to help prepare and, most importantly, detect the transfer of that virus into people, ... But it is a very worrisome situation.

When you start getting the flu it's hard to distinguish it from any other upper respiratory infections so most people don't realize they have flu until past the 48 hour window.

We want the flu shot in their arms first.

This year's flu season is not off to an aggressive start. We have less flu in the country than we did this time last year,

We are cautiously optimistic that at least in some parts of the country, influenza may have peaked. But there's still plenty of flu out there, and we're still encouraging people with flu-like illness who meet the criteria for concerns or complications to be sure and seek medical attention if they do develop the illness.

We're very early in the flu season this year. We're seeing very sporadic activity in seven states, and one state with local activity, but it's way at the very early stages. So it's difficult to predict how severe the season will be, when it will take off, and when it will peak, and what ultimately the spectrum of impact will be,

Even though we're hoping that we're past the peak for this early phase of the season, in past years we have seen flu come back, ... And we've also seen new strains emerge late in the season. So it's still important to be vigilant.

It's a vulnerable population, and the last thing they need to deal with in the context of all the other difficulties is a flu outbreak.