The History & Evolution of the Flu Vaccine

Controversy about vaccines, and vaccine evolution has never been a hotter topic than it is right now. However, while many people have various views about vaccination, there’s no denying that immunization against potentially deadly diseases has been one of humanity's most important medical advances. Flu vaccines first became available in the 1930s, but their use was not widespread until the mid-1940s. Today, new flu vaccines for the most likely strains are available every year. Here’s why flu vaccines changed the world, how they work, and vaccine evolution.

Most people who live in the developed world don’t realize how deadly common diseases can be if not treated correctly. Measles, chicken pox, and other mild diseases can be dangerous or even fatal. Flu or influenza, are historically also one of the most dangerous viruses. One of the most tragic examples is the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 that killed as many as 50 million people around the world – and there were far fewer people back then! 

Without effective treatment for influenza, the virus ripped through the population every year, killing many people, particularly the very young and the very old. 

The development of the flu vaccine, vaccine evolution, and effective treatments for the virus have all considerably reduced the influenza death toll. However, the flu still puts many people in the hospital, and unfortunately, it still kills people every year. 

While Ascada Research is working on cutting-edge medical technology all the time, when the flu vaccine was first developed, most of the technology we take for granted today did not exist. It took dedicated researchers and medical visionaries like Ernest William Goodpasture and his colleagues at Vanderbilt University to create the process needed to develop the first flu vaccines. Their new method of producing vaccines in eggs allowed them to create enough of the vaccine to offer it to the public. Over time, the process was refined, and the proteins in the eggs were removed before the process began, but flu vaccines were still grown exclusively in hens eggs until the 2010s. Today, flu vaccines are grown in cell cultures, and recombinant protein vaccines are available, but they are all possible because of early vaccine pioneers who started producing flu vaccines in eggs. 

While the development of single-strain flu vaccines had an enormous impact on severe illness and death from the flu strains they were designed to prevent, there is more than one strain of influenza circulating every year. 

Quadrivalent vaccines are a recent improvement that allows vaccination against four strains of influenza in a single shot. They were first introduced in 2012, and by the 2019 – 2020 flu season, all flu vaccines produced and administered in the U.S. were quadrivalent. 

No one was prepared for Covid when it arrived. Except for vaccine researchers. Thanks to several decades of research and development, they had the solution in the form of mRNA vaccine technology ready to go. This technology allowed them to develop a new vaccine that would “fit” the spike protein on the Covid virus molecules in a matter of months, rather than the years it usually takes to develop an effective vaccine. 



Major drug manufacturers, like Pfizer, are currently working on a universal flu vaccine that uses mRNA technology, and that can be adapted quickly to combat new strains. As we have seen with Covid, the ability of viruses to mutate and become vaccine evasive over time is one of the biggest challenges to successful immunization campaigns, and this vaccine evolution and technology might finally allow public health to get ahead of new strains of flu. 

While it may seem that the medical community is always on the back foot regarding new diseases and viruses, there have been several giant leaps forward that allow companies like Ascada Research, to develop new treatments, preventative medications, and vaccines. One of these is the Influenza Genome Sequencing Project, which is working on mapping the genetic structure of the influenza virus, which will allow researchers to target specific weaknesses in the virus itself and develop new vaccines and treatments. 

Another recent development related to the flu vaccine is the large-scale vaccination of animals. Vaccines for flu strains affect birds, pigs, dogs, and other animals, and they can be used to prevent illness among animals and zoonotic transmission to humans. Since swine flu, avian flu, and other types of flu that are carried and spread by animals can be dangerous or even deadly, these advances in animal vaccination are great news for people too. 

The ordinary person might think of the flu as nothing more than a disease that keeps them in bed for a few days, gives them fever, and makes them a little miserable, but for every person who has the flu and recovers without too much trouble, others will not. Ascada Research is very pleased to work in the healthcare industry, helping in some small way to create vaccines and treatments for diseases like these that have taken such a toll on the world. 



It’s hard to believe that we’ve come as far as we have in less than one hundred years, but the truth is that medical research and understanding have increased exponentially in recent years. It’s only a matter of time before we find universal vaccines for diseases like the flu, better treatments for others, and cures for diseases that have thus far been incurable. Much of the research making this possible was not conducted solely with influenza in mind, but since we can adapt it to many different diseases and viruses, we can take advantage of all the knowledge that has come before. It’s a fascinating time for the flu vaccine and modern medicine!