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A shortage of seasonal flu vaccine… has some people in the midlands... Scrambling.

October is the official start to flu season...and less than two weeks into it...panic over a possible pandemic has caused a big shortage...

It seems that so many people have gotten the message about getting a seasonal flu shot...that hospitals and private health care providers are running out..

Even local pharmacies say they've been ambushed with calls of people unable to get a routine flu shot.

"We get calls everyday, do you have the vaccine, we are looking for it," says Overbay.

Long's Drugs pharmacist "Lewis Overbay" is frustrated that he can't meet his customer’s needs.

"They've been sold out, back ordered, everywhere we look,” says Overbay.   

Overbay says it's the same situation for every Long's Drugs in the midlands.

"We ordered them, plenty in advance, the supply to come in and was actually notified a day or so before our first clinic that we weren't going to be able to obtain any," says Overbay.  

Causing Overbay to cancel their annual flu shot clinics...for the first time in several years.

"People are just really trying to be overly cautious, and i think that the demand was just super high this year, so I think it's even very hard for some of the bigger stores to keep inventory of the vaccine up now," says Overbay.

"The problem with not having enough...is kind of multi factorial, it is a shipping issue and an ordering issue, as well as the surge of the h1 n1 vaccine that required a lot of intense labor to get it out," says Doctor Steven Shelton.

Doctor Shelton says Palmetto Health Richland is also facing a shortage.

He says it’s a nationwide problem, because the companies who produce and package the product are focusing their efforts on the H1N1 vaccine.

And until more vaccine is available...People like Lewis Overbay will have to wait patiently...

"I'm not going to hold my breath," says Overbay.

WACH Fox News called several large chain pharmacies today; Rite-Aid was the only store that could confirm via phone that they had the flu vaccine in stock.

A spokesperson for Walgreen’s says the stores ran out quickly, because they administered the shots earlier than others, in September.