What is it about this time of year when someone sneezes, coughs, complaints of “not feeling great,” etc. that we all start diving for the nearest bottle of hand sanitizer?

I’ll be honest, there might be a point and time when I have to own stock in a few of the companies that make that stuff.

And, I am not sure if it works completely. I know they take care of 99.9 percent of all germs, but leave it to that one .1 percent germ to throw everything into disarray.

The winter is a time many of us simply want to go away.

We don’t live in an area that has snow, so having that around to “enjoy” is not an option for us.

Yes, there’s the cooler weather, but we in Vicksburg and in Mississippi and Louisiana are a people better suited for flip flops than warm boots.

We are a people more accustomed to air conditioning than heaters, shedding layers of clothes than bundling up.

Winter is a time where the leaves are off the tree and the golf course just isn’t as inviting as it is in the spring, summer and early fall.

Winter is also a time that brings about the peak of the annual flu season.

According to WebMD, 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population will get the flu on average. There will be 200,000 Americans on average hospitalized each year because of flu-related problems and sadly, thousands will lose their life to the virus.

Now you know why hand sanitizer is in such demand.

But, that bottle of gel or lotion, cannot be your lone line of defense. Nor can simply avoiding contact with those with the disease be a solution either.

An annual flu shot must be part of the regimen used to keep the flu at bay.

Is it 100 percent effective? No. But, it is an essential weapon in the development and spread of the disease.

This flu season, an estimated 179 million doses of the flu vaccine are being made available, so not being able to find a shot is not an excuse to not get a shot.

The flu season peaks between December and February, which is right now. If you have not got the shot, please do so.

If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your family, your friends and those around you. It would be much appreciated.

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Tim Reeves is publisher of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at tim.reeves@vicksburgpost.com or 601-636-4545, ext. 122.