PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
Already this season the flu has contributed to six deaths in Washington State and 65 hospitalizations in the Portland metro area alone.
The worry over getting sick has created a high demand for the this year's flu vaccine, wiping out supplies at pharmacies across the country. So much so the governor of New York has declared a state of emergency.
Several pharmacies in the Portland metro area were sold out of the shot Saturday. At the Safeway in the Pearl, pharmacists stopped giving out the shot because meeting customer's demands was taking too much time away from filling prescriptions.
At a health clinic in Salem, hundreds lined up for free flu shots.
"You hear about how many cases there are and how bad it is," said Rick Rotch who got a free vaccine. "I hope it can keep us from getting it."
The demand for the shot typically spikes at the beginning of the season, however, as news of a national flu epidemic spread, those who generally pass on the shot changed their mind, even after the Centers of Disease Control acknowledged Friday the vaccine is only 62 percent effective.
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