--- title: Flu Vaccine Flucelvax: Flu Shot With Dog Cells Instead of Chicken Eggs description: Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs canonical: https://time.com/3548419/flu-shot-flucelvax/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-30T16:15:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:03:18.763Z article:section: Health og:title: This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others og:description: Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs og:url: https://time.com/3548419/flu-shot-flucelvax/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3250 og:image:height: 1828 og:image:alt: Flu vaccines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others twitter:description: Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7854909363bfce61/6987622d8e06019066457d9f/flu-influenza.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=c12cb2ef-e613-404d-97a2-8a165f85ab2f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others [Watch (HLS stream): This Flu Shot Is Not Like the Others](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1thSi60s.m3u8) (2:09)  _Published 2014-10-30. Some people may get a new flu shot that’s made with dog cells instead of chicken eggs_  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2014 4:15 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2014 4:15 PM UTC This year Novartis shipped its first full batch of Flucelvax, a new vaccine that was only [approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm328982.htm). The company made a limited amount of the shot last year, but there are more doses to go around this flu season. And for the first time, the doses were made at the company’s newly approved U.S. plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The vaccine is made without growing the influenza virus in chicken eggs, which is the way that flu shots were made for more than four decades. Instead, Flucelvax is grown in kidney cells from dogs. The technology means that the shot can be made in less time than a traditional flu shot—enough virus can be churned out in about 65 hours to 75 hours, compared to the six months or so it takes to grow in chicken eggs. It also means that people who are allergic to eggs now have another option for getting immunized against the flu. **MORE:** [Pregnant Women and the Flu: Why Influenza Is More Dangerous for Expectant Moms](http://time.com/3418460/pregnancy-flu-vaccine/) In studies that the FDA reviewed before approving the vaccine, the shot was 84% effective in preventing flu among adults who were vaccinated compared to those who received a placebo. People getting Flucelvax produced around the same amount of antibodies to the influenza virus as those who were immunized with a chicken egg-based flu vaccine. Using animal cells instead of chicken eggs, say Novartis officials, allows them to have more control over the purity of the final vaccine. How well influenza grows in the chicken eggs is variable—some eggs or batches of eggs help the virus grow, while others aren’t as conducive to producing large amounts of influenza. The cell-based technology is also a plus during a flu pandemic, since the platform can produce more doses quickly to control an outbreak as a particular influenza virus spreads among a population. The kidney cells are frozen and can be thawed quickly to begin growing virus. The company has produced doses of pandemic flu vaccine against H5N1 using the cell technology, and it’s keeping them in deep freeze as part of the U.S. government stockpile in the event of a pandemic. The FDA has approved [seven different types of flu shots](http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm)—in addition to Flucelvax and the standard vaccine made from chicken eggs that protects against three strains of influenza, there is also a shot that protects against four strains of flu; for the needle-phobic, one with a microneedle injects just into the skin and doesn’t penetrate into the muscle, making it less painful; for the elderly who need more protection, there is a high-dose vaccine; for younger children there is a nasal spray; and for those allergic to eggs, there’s a shot made from bits of influenza proteins grown in insect cells. Not every doctor’s office or clinic carries every shot, so if you prefer one over the others, call your health care provider to find out if it will be available. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] This year, your annual flu shot might be more high tech than the ones you've had before. For decades, flu shots could only be made with the help of hundreds of thousands of chicken eggs. Scientists grew the influenza virus in the chicken eggs. Then purified and modified it to go into the flu vaccine. But that process took months for the virus to grow. In 2012 the U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved an entirely new way of making flu vaccines. Bypassing chicken eggs altogether and using animal cells instead. The Novartis Plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina is the only facility in the U. S.. Approved to produce a cell culture- based flu vaccine known as Flucelvax. This Influenza vaccine is grown using cells from dog kidneys. And the process is much faster. Taking 65 to 75 hours. Compared to the months it took to grow with [ UNKNOWN ] [ MUSIC ] The process begins with growing enough kidney cells to serve as the viruses incubators. Over 20 days the cells are put into a culture that encourages them to divide rapidly. And as the cells grow in number they are moved into increasingly larger vats. They start out in 5 liter. Containers and end up in a 5000 liter tank. Once there, the cells are infected with the flu virus. These samples of virus arrive frozen and are chosen each year by the World Health Organization in the spring. They determine which flu strains they believe will be circulating later that year. Year. After the cells produce enough virus, the viral particles are strained out, purified, and treated so they can't actually cause flu but can still alert the immune system to mount a response against the virus. 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