From what I've read so far, the bird flu is not yet transmittable between humans. You can only catch it from animals at present.
But when it mutates slightly so that human transmission is possible, all hell could break loose.
Hopefully, that mutation will also make it less deadly, but there's certainly no guarantee of that.
I certainly will get a flu shot for this next year if at all possible. If the CDC and WHO are as concerned about this as they appear to be, they should be working overtime to ensure that the world has an adequate supply of vaccine to prevent the pandemic from occurring.