You're so right. And not only was there never a shortage, evidently there was also no impending "epidemic." Electioneering at its very worst.
I agree the electioneering was rotten, but there was no reliable way to predict whethere there would be an epidemic or not. You can see flu epidemics as late as April, so there is still a chance, but right now it looks like this was a light year for influenza and we lucked out.