Government will be receiving its stockpile of flu vaccine on October 4, and it is not expected that there will be a shortage this year.

And in the US, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is recommending annual flu shots for healthy children six months of age to 23 months, and for anyone who cares for or lives with a child under the age of two, including parents and siblings, according to USA Today.

With that in mind, at least one doctor on the Island is offering a special flu vaccine for children under the age of two which does not contain thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative which may be linked to developmental disorders such as autism.

Dr. Brent Williams was able to order about 50 doses of the thimerosal-free vaccine for children under the age of two from Aventis Pasteur, the only maker of flu vaccine licensed for children under the age of four.

The company expects to produce only 3.5 million doses of the vaccine in half-dose syringes suitable for very young children.

With no proof of a link between thimerosal and developmental disorders, however, medical professionals in the US are urging parents not to forget the real danger of influenza and to get their children vaccinated. In Bermuda the peak flu season is January and February.

Other private practices are also providing the flu vaccine, including Island Health Services.

Last year supplies of the flu vaccine ran short in North America when the two companies which manufacture the vaccine in the US made fewer doses than usual. Millions of unused doses had to be discarded the year before.

That decrease in production, combined with an early start to the flu season and some particularly serious strains of the virus such as the Fujian flu being more prevalent, led to an unexpected shortage in the US, which, in turn, affected Bermuda.

Government was finally able to order more doses from Canada.

This year no shortage is expected, senior medical officer Dr. Brenda Davidson said.

However, she added, she will not be certain of that until the vaccines arrive.

Government is already circulating to senior citizen homes and other areas to find out who exactly will be needing the flu vaccine this year.