Amid the new coronavirus pandemic the spotlight is on the COVID-19 vaccinations and experts in some countries are concerned that people will skip their flu shots.

Flu cases have dropped to historically low levels during the pandemic. The U.S. and Europe experienced hardly any flu last winter, and the Southern Hemisphere just ended its second flu season of the coronavirus pandemic with little to report.

But with schools and businesses reopened, international travel resuming and far less masking this fall, flu could make a comeback. The big question is whether it will trickle in or roar back and put extra pressure on hospitals already struggling with COVID-19 surges.

"People are sick to death of hearing about having to roll on out and get vaccines of any sort," said flu specialist Richard Webby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Yet after 18 months of little influenza exposure, "we probably as a population don’t have as much immunity against this virus as we typically might," Webby said. "It makes absolute sense to go on out and get that vaccine and at least prepare for something that, you know, could be quite severe."

Here are some things to know: