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Saturday / December 21. 2024
HomePosts Tagged "goat pox"

Will it be of much significance to tackle the hazard at the earliest or will it take too long to reach the beneficiaries?

India has been wading through the menace of the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) which has currently killed about 57,000 bovines and infected around over 15.21 lakh cattle. The global concern was widely discussed during the recently held “World Dairy Summit 2022’, from 12th-15th September, with a host of speakers declaring it as a dairy exigency.

The discussion revolved around the recently launched vaccine- Lumpi-ProVacInd, an indigenous shot developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) that is currently awaiting a nod for emergency use from Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) for the treatment of LSD. The delay is centred around the vaccine’s efficacy and its subsequent line of production.  Praveen Malik, Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), talked to AgroSpectrum India highlighting similar concerns on the outlines of the global summit. He said, “The indigenous vaccine announced recently has been unnecessarily creating a buzz and wrongly termed as a breakthrough without even going through a pilot run. It needs to be properly tested before we can see any significant results on the ground in terms of preventing or curing the disease.” “After the requisite trials, it needs to be manufactured on a large scale to distribute it to all the stakeholders, not just a fraction of the population who need it. Else, the entire purpose of producing the vaccination will be defeated. Given this outlook, the bigger question is about the companies responsible for producing the vaccination at a later stage. Also, the entire process will take a significant time before we move the needle to the next stage,” he continued.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, during the launch of the indigenous vaccine to protect livestock from the disease in August this year however shared a different outlook on the efficacy of the shot and called it a ‘milestone event’. He said that Indian scientists have undertaken limited trials in a short period and have developed a 100 per cent effective vaccine complying with all standards, which will be effective in getting rid of the disease.

During the summit, Malik also commented on the existing portfolio of vaccinations available including Goat Pox, which is the current shot being administered in India to treat the spread of the deadly disease. Elaborating on its use, Malik said, “Goat Pox has good efficacy to completely eradicate LSD from the ground in the time to come. With the continuous use of this product, India will be left with a marginal number of such cases in a month or less, just like the small number of Covid cases we see today. The vaccination also has an avoidable or no relapse rate, making it an effective remedy against the widespread disease.”

In August, around 1.53 crore cattle were vaccinated with Goat Pox with the government aiming to vaccinate the entire population in the days ahead. It is a heterologous vaccine, currently being manufactured by Hester Biosciences Ltd and Indian Immunologicals Ltd respectively.

Whether the new vaccine would help further in eradicating this disease completely, is something to be seen over time.

By Manishika Miglani

Image credit- shutterstock

Will it be of much significance to

The vaccine is expected to help control of Goat Pox disease in the country

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a leading vaccine manufacturer base out of Hyderabad, has launched ‘Goat Pox Vaccine (Raksha Goat Pox)’ for the significant Goat population in the country. Raksha Goat Pox vaccine is expected to help control of Goat Pox disease in the country, which has high economic importance among country’s rural livestock growers.

IIL’s Raksha Goat Pox vaccine is a live attenuated vaccine IP (Uttarkashi strain) grown on Vero Cell Culture. The Primary vaccination to be done at 3 months of age and revaccination annually with a dose rate of 1 ml, to be administered subcutaneously.  The technology for vaccine manufacturing and testing of Goat Pox Vaccine was obtained from Indian Council of Agriculture Research – Indian Veterinary Research Institute (ICAR- IVRI), Government of India and has been tested and certified by IVRI for commercial release.  

Speaking on the occasion from the launch, Managing Director of IIL, Dr K Anand Kumar said, “Indian Immunologicals is committed to introducing such products for the national interest and will abundantly help marginal livestock growers of their livelihood and protect their flock from various diseases. Dr Priyabrata Pattnaik, Deputy Managing Director and Sobhan Babu, Vice President – Animal Health Trade of IIL were also present in the Goat Pox Vaccine launch event.

Earlier IIL launched several other vaccines such as Classical Swine Fever vaccine, PPR Vaccine etc under tech transfer arrangement with IVRI. 

The vaccine is expected to help control