H1N1 Down, but Plenty of Flu Season Left

Although rates of the H1N1 flu infections are going down, it's far from gone, and flu season lasts until May. With fewer Americans getting sick from the H1N1 flu, and more vaccine arriving every day, the Centers for Disease Control's director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Tuesday that the country has a window of opportunity to get people vaccinated, in case there is a another wave of infections.

"We know it's still far too frustrating, we know there are lots, [but it is an] increasingly good time to try again because vaccine is becoming increasingly available," said Dr. Frieden

So far, 70 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been produced, and there is still not nearly enough vaccine to go around. So health officials are still asking healthy Americans to wait and give people in high risk groups for flu complications a chance to get protected first.

Those tracking the virus say it's hard to know if the worst of the virus has passed, or just getting a breather, before another round of infections.

Dr. Frieden said his agency polled about a dozen of the world's top flu experts about what they thought might happen with the virus. About half said we could get another surge in infections, the other half said no. One expert said to flip a coin, because what this virus does next is anyone's guess.

The CDC says it's keeping careful tabs on the virus, watching for changes that might make the disease more severe, or able to resist treatment, so far, the vaccine remains a good match for the virus.

Dr. Frieden said if a person doesn't think they need a shot because they've already had the flu, they could be wrong. "There's no way to know without a test, and even a test isn't completely accurate. So if you've had the flu, if you thick you've had the flu, doesn't mean your protected now. It could've been another virus. There are lots of viruses going around."