As autumn is approaching, people should be ready to welcome the flu season. And the best way to do that is to get vaccinated against influenza, which makes more than 36,000 victims in the US and leads to more than 200,000 hospitalizations, according to statistics provided the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In order to prevent influenza and its complications, the Food and Drug Administration approved six flu vaccines for the upcoming flu season.

The novelty is that the new flu shots have all three flu strains changed. The decision came after the last year’s flu vaccine proved inefficient because two of the three strains were not good matches.

This year’s flu vaccine protects against A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like virus, an A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus and a B/Florida/4/2006-like virus. Two of the strains included in this year’s vaccine are already circulating in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is already under way, the FDA said.

CSL Limited, Afluria; GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Fluarix; ID Biomedical Corporation of Quebec, FluLaval; MedImmune Vaccines Inc., FluMist; Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, Fluvirin; and Sanofi Pasteur Inc., Fluzone are the six flu vaccines and their manufacturers approved by the FDA for the 2008-2009 flu season.

In order to keep influenza under control, the CDC recommends all people get vaccinated starting with October when the flu season usually sets in. Especially of concern are children and the elderly whose immune systems are fragile and more predisposed to complications from the flu.