SINGAPORE (AP) -- Clinics and hospitals across Singapore have run out of flu vaccine because the worldwide supply of the jabs has been depleted by people seeking protection from outbreaks raging in the United States and Europe, the Health Ministry said Monday.

"More than 120,000 doses of the vaccine have been brought in within the last two months," a Health Ministry statement said.

"However, because of the recent increased influenza activity in the West where influenza vaccines are in great demand, there is a worldwide shortage of vaccines," the ministry said.

Ten private clinics and four hospitals had to turn away patients requesting the vaccine, but new stocks are expected to arrive this week, The Straits Times newspaper reported Monday.

Last week, the Health Ministry advised Singaporeans planning to travel to areas hard hit by the virus, including Europe or the United States, to get vaccinated. It said children and the elderly, who run a higher risk of infection, should get a jab.

The flu season usually lasts from October to May with peaks in December and January. But in the United States, it started in September this year, and experts have warned that the outbreak there will be much more severe than in recent years.

The ministry said that in October and November there was an increase in the number of patients in Singapore complaining of flu-like symptoms, but that the local strain was less virulent than the one circulating in the Northern Hemisphere.

Singapore is particularly wary of any viral outbreaks since the SARS crisis which gripped the city-state at the beginning of the year. The outbreak killed 33 people and infected 239 here, costing the country about $588 million.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.