In a 2007 report, the global capacity of approximately 826million seasonal influenza vaccine doses (inactivated and live) was double the production of 413million doses. In an aggressive scenario of producing pandemic influenza vaccines by 2013, only 2.8billion courses could be produced in a six-month time frame. If all high- and upper-middle-income countries sought vaccines for their entire populations in a pandemic, nearly 2billion courses would be required. If China pursued this goal as well, more than 3billion courses would be required to serve these populations. Vaccine research and development is ongoing to identify novel vaccine approaches that could produce much greater quantities of vaccine at a price that is affordable to the global population.