This year’s flu season is off to a slow but detectable start. And it appears to be a typical one that’s likely to peak in January or February, a leading US health official says.

Despite the slow start, now’s the time to get a flu shot — if you haven’t already, said Dr Joseph Bresee, chief of the CDC’s Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in the Influenza Division. It’s too early to tell which flu strains will predominate this season. But so far, the strains being detected seem to be a good match for the vaccine, he said.