Chandigarh, March 13: Punjab Animal Husbandry department has covered around 50 percent cattle under the ongoing mass immunisation drive against Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in just 17 days. LSD is a viral and contagious disease which causes fever and nodules on the skin and can be fatal.
Notably, this drive was initiated on February 25, under which, Goat Pox vaccine is being repeated for the third time as a booster dose to save cattle from this fatal disease.
Disclosing this here today, Punjab Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has set a target to vaccinate all 25 lakh cattle in the state under this mega campaign. The department has already vaccinated 12,49,779 cattle in the state, he added.
The Cabinet Minister directed the department officials to further intensify the drive to achieve 100 percent vaccination of the 25 lakh cattle in the state against lumpy skin disease (LSD) by April 16. He informed that as many as 837 dedicated veterinary teams of the animal husbandry department have been deputed in field with target to administer 60,000 vaccine doses daily.
• 837 dedicated veterinary teams administering 60K vaccine doses daily
• Animal Husbandry Minister directs officials to complete mass immunisation drive by April 16
S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that the state has procured 25 lakh doses of Goat Pox vaccine with the cost of Rs 78.75 lakh from Telangana State Veterinary Biological & Research Institution, Hyderabad to inoculate cattle as a preventive measure against the Lumpy Skin Disease. The vaccine will be administered to all the cattle population— including at cattle ponds run by the state government and private Gaushalas— in the state under this drive free of cost, he added.