LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. -- Too early to worry about the flu? Signs are up outside of pharmacies. The shots are out, and some medical experts say now is the time to get them.
"I haven't gotten it until, like, the winter," said Kohen Stiles of Clarks Green.
Here in the northeast, the flu season typically runs from the beginning of October through the spring, peaking December through March.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people should get the flu shot by the end of October at the latest.
CDC data shows the 2017-2018 flu season was the deadliest on record in the U.S. when about 80,000 Americans died of the flu or complications from the flu.
"I've done it a few times, but I haven't lately. I have seen it at the CVS here and I think it's interesting and I think that maybe they just go with the Halloween stuff I've seen out as well. Maybe they just say, 'hey, it must be time.' No, I don't know. I don't know why they put it out early," said Kevin Stiles of Clarks Green.
Doctors said the vaccine takes between two and four weeks to be effective and typically the vaccine works for about six months.
"I think when my kids were younger, we were more likely to get it just with, you know, the school season coming up. But then again, I think the big question everybody has is all about the strain, so they feel like sometimes they get the flu vaccine and they still get it. The whole answer of well I don't know if it was made for that strain or not," Karis Stiles of Clarks Green.