DENVER -- People searching for protection from the flu may have found it at a drive-thru in the Lowry neighborhood Saturday.

Family Medicine At Lowry hosted it’s first annual drive-thru flu clinic. Nearly 100 patients drove up, rolled down their windows, and were given a shot in the arm. The whole process took only a matter of minutes.

“I was looking for a flu shot and a cup of coffee. So, I got one out of two here,” said Neil Cleary, who works at the airport.

However, finding a flu shot wasn’t easy.

“I stopped at another location over off Colfax, and they’d already run out. So, today I knew I’d have to find something,” he said.

It was a similar story for the Johnston family.

“We’re having a problem finding the vaccine and we heard it was available here. It was a very easy process so we came on down here,” said Jeff Johnston.

Johnson wanted to protect his kids, and brought his two young daughters to be vaccinated.

“Everyone’s getting sick, even in all their classes and their school of course,” he said.

In fact, flu numbers are rising rapidly. The Colorado Department of Health is reporting nearly 700 people statewide have been hospitalized with the flu since the beginning of September, and 14 people have died from it.

Dr. Mary Catherine Husney told 7News this is a very strange flu season.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before. I have never seen this many people who are influenza positive this early in the year,” she said.

Husney said the early on-set and the severity of the flu, so far, has also lead to a demand for the flu vaccine unlike she’s seen before. Last year, her office ordered 1,200 doses of the vaccine and went through all of them. She said they’ve already gone through that same amount in just the past month.