Abstract Every year, millions of people are infected by the influenza virus around the world, which results in more than half a million deaths, particularly among the more vulnerable population. Since vaccination is the most efficient method of protection, millions of doses must be produced in a short period of time to supply seasonal vaccination campaigns around the globe, and billions of doses would be required to respond to a potential global influenza pandemic. The lack of flexibility of the current egg-based production system and its long production cycles have pushed biomanufacturers to invest in more flexible alternatives for vaccine production, particularly cell culture-based processes. While a valuable alternative, virus yields are still low, requiring extensive efforts to increase process productivity. Major efforts in the intensification of cell culture-based viral vaccine manufacturing focus on the development of high cell density processes, which mostly involve the employment of perfusion-based strategies. In this review, some of the advantages of cell culture-based production of influenza vaccines will be discussed, and some of the current challenges and opportunities for the intensification of these processes will be presented. Finally, the recent advances in high cell density processes for influenza vaccine manufacturing will be reviewed.