The original flu pandemic was in 1918, the original vaccine was developed in 1940, and only used in civilians by 1945. By 1947 it became obvious the virus has been mutating and the vaccine wasn't as effective.
In 1957 the first mutation showed up, which triggered another pandemic that killed 1.1 million people globally. Took almost 3 years to develop new effective vaccines, based on the first ones.
Then in 1968, a new mutation showed up and triggered yet another pandemic with another 1 million people dead globally.
Since then, there has been relatively minor flare ups like H1N1 or avian flu.
So:
- We're in a much, much better place to handle this than in the past.
- We need to learn from the past. If we can avoid it, don't let the virus fester and mutate.
- Getting this under control doesn't happen overnight.