Maharashtra to produce vaccine against lumpy skin disease

Amid rising cases of lumpy skin disease in the state and other parts of the country, the Maharashtra Government has firmed up a plan to undertake the production of the vaccine. The move will make Maharashtra self-sufficient in producing the vaccine, commonly known as goat pox.

Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Development Commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh told the Free Press Journal, ‘’The department has sent a proposal to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), which is one of the premier research institutions dedicated to livestock research and development, for a technology transfer. At the IVRI, the Agri Innovate cell, takes care of the commercial part of the technology transfer. The state government hopes to start the vaccine production next year.’’

A department officer said that they aim to inoculate cattle every year to check the spread of the disease. ‘’The state government needs to transfer around Rs70 lakh to the IVRI as part of royalty. Once the technology is acquired, the state government will start production at a facility in Aundh (Pune district) and become self-sufficient,’’ he added.

The state government’s move is quite important especially when a total of 5167 infected animals have died in the state till October 14. The spread of lumpy skin disease has been noticed in a total of 2605 villages of 32 districts till today. Of the 96862 infected livestock, 57,999livestock has been recovered after treatment.

Singh said that various districts have received a total of 140.97 lakh vaccine doses till date. Vaccination has been carried out free of cost in 128.32 lakh animals. ‘’The vaccination has been completed in Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Akola, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli, Washim and Mumbai Suburban District. The state has completed 91.72% of the vaccination of cattle taking into consideration the vaccinations done by private institutes, cooperative dairy federations and others,’’ he added.