The first prophylactic vaccine, Hecolin®, against hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection and the HEV associated disease was approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in December 2011. Key milestones during the 14-year HEV vaccine development are summarized in this commentary. After years of innovative research the recombinant virus-like particle (VLP) based antigen with virion-like epitopes was successfully produced in E. coli production platform on a commercial scale. Safety and efficacy of this vaccine was demonstrated in a large scale phase III clinical trial.