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(OTTUMWA, Iowa)  - Just last year, fear of flu pandemic gripped the globe.

As flu season approaches this year, health officials are concerned that people have just stopped paying attention.

Lynelle Diers, Director of Public Health for Wapello County dropped by our offices to administer a flu shot and get the word out.

Diers wants Iowans to start getting the vaccine because the flue season is rapidly approaching and it takes two weeks to become effective.

She says last year at this time, her department had lines around the building, as everyone was trying to get the HINI vaccine which was in very short supply.

This year the H1N1 protection is built into the vaccine.

So why is the flu a public health issue?

"Because it is so communicable that means it can be passed so readily from person to person. If a person has influenza and goes grocery shopping, very innocently and is coughing. They have exposed everyone that is around them in a five foot diameter to influenza," Diers said.

Diers added that 10,000 Americans die each year from influenza.