While local health officials are uncertain of the severity of this year's flu season, they are urging early vaccinations.

The Cherokee County Health Department will begin its flu vaccination season with a Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic on Sept. 23.

The clinic is from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Canton Elementary School at 712 Marietta Highway. The vaccines will cost $20.

The flu shots will be given to people ages 13 and older. Adults between the ages 19 and 64 can also receive the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccine for free with their flu shot, said Jennifer Moorer, public information officer for the North Georgia Health District.

Mrs. Moorer said the department has 6,000 injectible vaccines in stock for this year, which will also be available at the health department's Canton and Woodstock offices following the clinic.

This year's flu vaccine, she said, will protect against the regular flu strain as well as the H1N1 "swine flu" strain.

Assessing the severity of the upcoming flu season is difficult, she said.

"However, one factor that determines influenza's impact on a community in any flu season is the number of people in the community who get vaccinated," she added.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, this year's flu vaccine will protect against three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the H1N1 virus.

Symptoms of the flu usually appear suddenly and are different than the common cold. They include fever, feeling feverish or having chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue and vomiting and diarrhea, which is more common in children.

Mrs. Moorer said she doesn't expect a shortage of vaccines like the one that plagued many pharmacies and doctors offices during last year's H1N1 outbreak.

Between April 2009 and Aug. 21, there were 1,060 confirmed hospitalizations and 81 deaths in Georgia related to the H1N1 flu strain, according to the Georgia Department of Community Health.

Pharmacies in Cherokee County are also distributing flu vaccinations.

For $25, customers 13 and older can visit the seven Kroger pharmacies throughout the county and get flu vaccinations said Liza Chapman, pharmacy clinical coordinator with Kroger.

"We anticipate a huge demand this year" because of the CDC's recommendations to begin vaccinations as early as possible, Ms. Chapman said.

Kroger will not disclose how many vaccines it has in stock, but "we have a sufficient amount," she said.

Pediatrician Dr. Amy Hardin with Northside Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in Towne Lake said she hopes this flu season won't be as bad as last year's outbreak.

"There's no way you can predict that," she added. "I've been fooled before."

For its Towne Lake and Sandy Springs offices, the practice has a total of 5,000 flu vaccines - 4,000 nasal mist and 1,000 injectible, Dr. Hardin said.

The previous flu season was "confusing," she said, because patients needed two different vaccines and second doses.

"We also didn't get a good supply that we needed," she said of the shortage.

People need to take the threat of the flu seriously, she added, as last year it took the lives of many young adults and children.

"Of all those who've died, they weren't vaccinated," she said of H1N1. "It was a disease of younger people."