With emergence of MHC class I tetramers loaded with CD8+ T‐cell viral epitopes, it is possible to study virus‐specific CD8 cells in humans during infection and after vaccination. MHC class I tetramers was used to detect the frequency of haemagglutinin (HA)‐specific T cells in 26 healthy influenza‐vaccinated humans. Peripheral blood was collected before, and 7, 14 and 28 days after vaccination. Four‐colour flow cytometry was used for monitoring of vaccine induced T‐cell response. In 15 donors, two‐ to fivefold increase in frequency of HA‐specific T cells was observed 7 days after vaccination. In addition, in 12 of these donors, this increase was accompanied with fourfold increase of H1N1 antibody titre. The increase in frequency of HA‐specific CD8+/IFN‐γ+ cells was low and peaked 28 days after vaccination in three of the six donors tested. Frequencies of HA‐specific CD8+ T cells and antibody titre returned to prevaccination values 1 year after vaccination. Subunit influenza vaccines have the ability to induce HA‐specific CD8+ cells. As the immune response to this vaccine decreased significantly after 1 year, our results confirm the importance of annual immunization for adequate protection.