NEW CANAAN, CT — Fever, cough, aches and chills mean one thing to most of us as the winter months draw near—influenza, the flu, is circulating again in our community. If we could avoid the misery and potential complications, most of us would choose to do so. Each year, we hope there will be plentiful vaccine, yet once again we have scarce supply.

COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY — Health experts wrapped up a meeting here Tuesday to formulate recommendations for vaccine policy in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. The group acknowledges that routine annual influenza epidemics would be overshadowed by the looming calamity posed by a pandemic influenza event.

NEW CANAAN, CT — A global flu outbreak—flu pandemic—strikes three or four times in a century, with a new strain of flu met by weak immune resistance around the globe. The pandemic flu of 1918 killed 40 million people; at least two lesser pandemics occurred in the last half of the 20th century.