University Health Services fell short of flu vaccinations Monday.

About 5,000 students have already received their free flu shots from UHS since October, but because of high demands across the nation, manufacturers have run out of vaccination supplies.

“It appears [the flu season] is going to be a lot more severe than normal,” UHS epidemiologist Craig Roberts said. “We’ve seen it appear a lot earlier this year.”

Although UHS does not have any more flu shots in stock, an inhaled version of the vaccine will be available around noon Tuesday. This vaccine is more expensive, which is why it remains widely available. UHS is only providing this type of drug because the drug company Wyeth donated a large supply to the university.

The nasal spray is recommended only for healthy people five to 49 years of age. Doctors, including those at UHS, began pushing it as an alternative to the traditional vaccine Friday, after the two makers of flu shots in the United States announced they have run out of their normal 80 million supply and will not be able to meet a surge in demand resulting from fears of a particularly bad season. Roberts said it is equally preventive to the shot, being about 85 to 90 percent effective.

“Nationally, more people are wanting to get the vaccine because of the media attention it has recently received, so there’s a run of flu vaccines this past week,” Roberts added.

He also said offices did not order as large a supply as usual this year because there was an excess of flu vaccines last year.

“Demands tend to go in cycles,” Roberts said about the severity of the strains and subsequent flu anxieties among the public. “It comes and goes … some years are bad.”

Some suspect that this year is expected to be an exceptionally bad season because of media reports from 13 states, particularly Colorado, of more than 6,300 people infected and at least six deaths. All the dead were under 16 years old.

“Every year there are children that die from influenza,” Roberts said. “It’s too early to tell if this is unusual.”

According to the Center of Disease Control, even before this year’s deaths, there were signs that this could be a bad flu season. Some parts of the country, predominately in the western part of the U.S., were hit hard a month earlier than usual. The flu season usually lasts from October until May, with peak times occurring in December and January. Doctors are also seeing the A-Fujian-H3N2 strain, part of a class of flu viruses that caused severe outbreaks in the United States in the 1990s.

Even though health officials urge people to get their shots, it is still not clear how effective they will be against this strain, which is somewhat different from the three that this year’s vaccine is designed to combat.

Roberts said that only one of the strains is not an exact match to the vaccine, but it is close enough that the vaccine will still be effective.

“It’s really a guessing game on what’s coming … but all indications so far is that people will be protected,” he said.

Even though it is a little late, Roberts emphasized that students should still try and get their vaccination because they may be at a higher risk of catching the flu with the stress of classes and finals, as well as their living conditions.

“I wanted to prevent getting sick … and it was free,” University of Wisconsin senior Jenny Bonfigt said.

Bonfigt said she went to UHS the first day it was offered and has done so for the last two years. She said if it helps her to stay healthy and does not cost anything, then “why not?”

“For college students, I think it’s very important,” Bonfigt added.

In response to the media’s coverage of the flu over the last few weeks, Bonfigt said she did not see any negative aspects of it.

“It just reinforces getting the flu vaccine,” she said.