Ensuring Safe and Effective Flu Vaccines
The flu (influenza) vaccine you get at your doctor’s office or pharmacy is the result of year-round work of highly skilled microbiologists, epidemiologists, physicians and other public health experts.
Sound complicated? It is.
As new strains of flu viruses emerge, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration closely coordinates with sister agencies and works with manufacturers to help the development of vaccines to protect from the flu, a disease that can cause severe illness.
The FDA and other parts of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are working to advance the development of new technologies for producing flu vaccines so we can better respond to influenza public health emergencies. All FDA-approved flu vaccines have been evaluated and determined to be safe and effective by the FDA.
There is often more than one type of flu virus circulating each season. So, vaccines are made to target the most likely viruses to circulate and cause illness in the U.S. during the upcoming flu season.
To find a flu vaccine near you, visit this page.
FDA-approved Flu Vaccines Are Safe and Effective
The flu vaccine works by triggering your immune system to produce antibodies that help prevent influenza disease.
Most of the U.S. flu vaccine supply is made using an egg-based production process. In this method, manufacturers use fertilized eggs to grow the flu viruses. After about six months of laboratory work and manufacturing, those viruses are incorporated into that season’s flu vaccine.
This method has been used for decades to produce safe and effective vaccines. The FDA, HHS and manufacturers continue to work on ways different technologies can help develop new flu vaccines.
Having different types of flu vaccines helps ensure that safe and effective vaccines are available to respond to the ever-changing nature of flu viruses. For example, the FDA has approved adjuvanted flu vaccines and flu vaccines that do not use egg-based manufacturing, including cell-based and recombinant protein vaccines.
In addition, the FDA has approved flu vaccines specifically for people ages 65 and older, who typically bear the greatest burden of severe influenza disease and account for most flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.
