Friday, the World Health Organization said that more than 4,700 can now be attributed to H1N1 virus worldwide.

This comes as the vaccine starts to arrive in hospitals all over the country.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control say it’s not too late to get a flu shot this year.

The CDC expects the H1N flu vaccine to remain in good supply.

“Influenza is widespread in the country and illness hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director of the CDC.

As the H1N1 virus continues to spread, the vaccine manufactured to stop it is finally getting to patients.

“As of Wednesday, 11.4 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine were available for order and as of Wednesday 8 million of those doses had been ordered,” said Dr. Schuchat.

A health clinic in central Alabama started administering the shots on Wednesday.

"Our day has been quite hectic. When we rolled our phones this morning, 7:45 to present, has rang off the hook all day long. People wanting to know, is it here? Is it here? Well, it is here,” said Barry Rowe with American Family Care in Alabaster, Alabama.

But right now, the demand is outweighing the supply.

"We wish that we had more vaccine, and there is more vaccine coming out every day, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to make those estimates that we’d projected for the end of this month,” said Dr. Schuchat.

Many people are fearful of the vaccine and experts say for the most part, those fears are unwarranted.

"I think it's a pandemic among the community. It's fear of the unknown. They don't know what to expect. And now that a vaccine has been identified and is available, I think that it's going to go very quickly,” added Rowe.

Health officials want to remind people, the vaccine is safe, effective, and the best defense against the spread of the disease.

"It’s important for people to know that the H1N1 Influenza vaccine is being made exactly the same way as the seasonal flu vaccines are made. A hundred million people get those every year. And we believe that there’s a very strong safety record for them, including many, many pregnant women who get those vaccines every year, and many, many children who get those vaccines every year,” added Dr. Schuchat.

Health officials say the enormous amount of flu cases is unprecedented for this time of year.

About half the deaths that they've seen in children since September first have been occurring in teens between the ages of 12-17.

They add unfortunately those statistics are likely to increase.

So far, 18 people have died in Alabama from the H1N1 virus, including residents in Dale and Houston counties.