A method for generating a recombinant influenza hemagglutinin (HA) polypeptide comprising consensus amino acids, wherein the method comprises: a. selecting more than one influenza HA polypeptide sequence and aligning the sequences; b. calculating pairwise similarity/dissimilarity matrices; c. identifying and creating clusters of similar sequences from the pairwise similarity/dissimilarity matrices; d. within each cluster, determining whether there is a consensus amino acid for each position in the sequence alignment using a pairwise alignment method, wherein if the frequency of the amino acid at a given position is 50% or greater, that amino acid is designated a consensus amino acid, and if the frequency of the amino acid at a given position is less than 50%, that amino acid is designated as a variable amino acid; e. generating a first sequence comprising consensus amino acids and variable amino acids for each cluster; f. within the first sequence generated in step (e), determining a consensus amino acid for each variable amino acid position, by: i. generating a set of test sequences based on the first sequence, wherein test amino acids are placed at the variable amino acid positions; ii. performing molecular modeling for each of the test sequences, wherein the molecular modeling comprises (i) comparing to a crystal structure of an influenza HA polypeptide or protein; (ii) use of Rosetta or any other molecular modeling software; or both of (i) and (ii); iii. determining a consensus amino acid for each variable amino acid position by selecting amino acid(s) that result in a polypeptide having a negative total energy value; and g. generating the recombinant influenza HA polypeptide comprising the consensus amino acids. a. selecting more than one influenza HA polypeptide sequence and aligning the sequences; b. calculating pairwise similarity/dissimilarity matrices; c. identifying and creating clusters of similar sequences from the pairwise similarity/dissimilarity matrices; d. within each cluster, determining whether there is a consensus amino acid for each position in the sequence alignment using a pairwise alignment method, wherein if the frequency of the amino acid at a given position is 50% or greater, that amino acid is designated a consensus amino acid, and if the frequency of the amino acid at a given position is less than 50%, that amino acid is designated as a variable amino acid; e. generating a first sequence comprising consensus amino acids and variable amino acids for each cluster; f. within the first sequence generated in step (e), determining a consensus amino acid for each variable amino acid position, by: i. generating a set of test sequences based on the first sequence, wherein test amino acids are placed at the variable amino acid positions; ii. performing molecular modeling for each of the test sequences, wherein the molecular modeling comprises (i) comparing to a crystal structure of an influenza HA polypeptide or protein; (ii) use of Rosetta or any other molecular modeling software; or both of (i) and (ii); iii. determining a consensus amino acid for each variable amino acid position by selecting amino acid(s) that result in a polypeptide having a negative total energy value; and i. generating a set of test sequences based on the first sequence, wherein test amino acids are placed at the variable amino acid positions; ii. performing molecular modeling for each of the test sequences, wherein the molecular modeling comprises (i) comparing to a crystal structure of an influenza HA polypeptide or protein; (ii) use of Rosetta or any other molecular modeling software; or both of (i) and (ii); iii. determining a consensus amino acid for each variable amino acid position by selecting amino acid(s) that result in a polypeptide having a negative total energy value; and g. generating the recombinant influenza HA polypeptide comprising the consensus amino acids. <EOS>