DENVER -- The cold weather has arrived and on its coattails is the flu season. On Wednesday, the Colorado Health Department kicked off a campaign to remind people to get their flu shots if they want to avoid the flu this season.

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"Anyone who doesn't want the flu should get a shot," said Dr. Ned Calonge, medical director for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Especially vulnerable are children 6 months to 2 years old and anyone who is 55 years old or older.

Last year, 19 Coloradoans died of influenza and 729 died of pneumonia, a frequent complication of the flu. That compares with 284 people who died from West Nile virus nationally in 2002.

Nationwide, about 36,000 people die and 114,000 are hospitalized because of influenza each year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90 percent of the deaths are among people 65 and older.

This year a particularly nasty strain of influenza afflicting Australia has health officials in the state a little worried.

The Australian bug is hitting people hard, and not just babies and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable.

The United States has had two consecutive mild flu seasons and federal officials say they've never seen three in a row.

"That is another reason why we're concerned, but we don't have the luxury to really know for sure," said Dr. Walt Orenstein, director of immunization at the CDC. "Once influenza hits the community, it tends to go through it very quickly."

There is enough vaccine for 86 million Americans, health officials said.

The best time to get a flu shot is in October and November, though December vaccines can be effective. January is typically the peak month for influenza.

Even for healthy people, the flu is usually a five- or six-day ordeal with fever, muscle aches and malaise. The fatigue associated with flu can last for a month or more.