Indigenous vaccine for lumpy skin disease launched; Tomar says 'big relief to livestock'

In a major step to shield the livestock of the country from the Lumpy Skin disease, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Narendra Singh Tomar on August 10 launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVacInd. Significantly, there is a severe outbreak of the Lumpy Skin disease in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. According to official estimates, in Gujarat, over 2,600 cattle have died from the disease, while the toll in Rajasthan has gone up to over 6,000 cattle. 

The National Equine Centre, Hisar (Haryana) has developed the vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly). Tomar while launching the vaccine said that livestock is the biggest asset of the country. 

Vaccine development efforts in progress since 2019

Research efforts by various Indian institutes to develop the vaccine have been in progress since the disease came to India in 2019. The vaccine complies with all the required standards and will significantly help the cattle stock owners to fight the disease. Minister Tomar congratulated the scientists of the Veterinary Research Institute and the Equine Research Centre for developing the Lumpy disease vaccine. 

He also urged the officials to quickly distribute the vaccine at the earliest for the relief of the cattle. Tomar informed about the presence of 30 crore livestock in India and considering the plight of the mute animals, everything possible should be done to provide them with the vaccine cover at the earliest.

Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary, Secretary Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Jatindra Nath Swain, Director General of ICAR, Dr Himanshu Pathak, Deputy Director General Dr BN Tripathi, Dr Triveni Dutt, Director, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Dr Yashpal, Director, National Equine Research Center and other senior officers were present on the occasion.