More choices for avoiding the flu this winter.(Health)

This season, it will be easier than ever to protect yourself from the flu, which kills 20,000 to 40.000 Americans every year.

Vaccine supplies are abundant, in contrast to the shortages of previous years, so "anyone who wants a vaccination should get it as soon as it becomes available, usually around the first of October," says Curtis Allen, spokesman for the immunization program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thimerosal-free flu shots are available, for the first time, for infants, young children, and pregnant and nursing women. Used as a vaccine preservative since the 1930s, thimerosal contains ethylmercury a neurotoxin especially dangerous to young children and fetuses. An expert panel from the Institute of Medicine in 2001 concluded that the risk of harm from thimerosal in vaccines was "biologically plausible" though not proved with conclusive studies. As a precaution, the committee recommended removing thimerosal from childhood vaccines as soon as practical. Thimerosal in vaccines is not considered dangerous for most adults; a flu shot contains about as much mercury as a 3-ounce serving of white tuna.

FluMist, a nasal spray flu vaccine, was approved over the summer and is now available. Shown in clinical trials to be just as effective as the injectable vaccine, FluMist is currently ...