Docs urge shots as flu season grabs the South, NYC

WASHINGTON (AP) — Flu season's arrived with lots of coughing and fever in the South and New York City, and it's sure to spread to the rest of the country. The good news: There's still plenty of vaccine for procrastinators.

But don't wait much longer. It takes about two weeks for the vaccine's protection to kick in.

"Take the opportunity while you've got the chance," advises Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If this seems like a late start for influenza, not so: We're just getting back to normal after the swine-flu pandemic that made the 2009-10 flu season hit unusually early.

January and February typically are the worst flu months, and it can drag into March. And this winter, a well-known nasty strain of Type A flu is causing most of the illnesses so far in the U.S. This so-called H3N2 branch of the flu family tends to trigger more pneumonia and other complications than other forms of influenza.