By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Top health officials today offered some sobering, even scary, words at a swine flu summit in Washington.

Summed up, millions of kids may have to get a short series of swine flu shots as schools open across the country, something way out of the ordinary for the students, parents and school officials.

But first, large pharmaceutical companies are racing to see whether they can even produce a vaccine that will work and slow the spread of the disease, which has infected at least 1 million Americans.

Consider these comments from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at today's summit of top state and health officials from across the country:

I think that part of the challenge is how to communicate effectively with folks to be prepared without scaring people to death. It has to be a balance between complacency and preparation.... We have got to push supplies out. We have got to push antivirals out.

Sebelius added that officials also have to prepare to close schools if needed.

Depending on the severity of the outbreak, community mitigation could involve more systematic means of social distancing, including limits on large gatherings and, if necessary and appropriate, temporary school or workplace closures.

One of the biggest concerns about swine flu is that the spread of the disease has continue throughout the Northern hemisphere in the summer -- when flu season normally takes a holiday.

In other words, if swine flu is bad in the summer, how much worse could it be when the normal flu season arrives?

The big drug companies better come up with a winner when it comes to an effective swine flu vaccine, or this could be a long and deadly winter.

And, yes, that is scary.