Different Vaccine Trials for Lumpy Skin Disease

Lumpi-ProVacInd vaccine

Homologous vaccine

Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar launched the shot developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) August 10, 2022. The vaccine needs the nod for emergency use from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD). 

Lumpi-ProVacInd has been developed by ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar, Haryana, in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

Goat Pox Vaccine

Heterologous Vaccine

Currently, India is administering the goat pox vaccine for LSD, which has killed about 50,000 bovines and infected around 12 lakh cattle. It’s a heterologous vaccine that offers cross-protection (up to 60-70 per cent) for cattle against the disease.

Goat pox, sheep pox and LSD belong to the same capripoxvirus genus. Lumpi-ProVacInd is a homologous vaccine made with the same virus as the disease.

Homologous live-attenuated vaccines provide better and longer immunity compared to heterologous ones, according to experts.

The government has set a target to vaccinate the entire 30 crore cattle population. In August, around 1.53 crore cattle were vaccinated with the goat pox vaccine, which is currently being manufactured by two companies — Hester Biosciences Ltd and Indian Immunologicals Ltd.

The first experimental trial of the vaccine was done at ICAR-IVRI Mukteshwar campus in April 2022 and 10 animals were given a dose. After a month, the animals, along with five control animals that weren’t given the vaccine, were injected with the virulent virus.

The control animals showed LSD symptoms, while the vaccinated animals developed immunity.

Following this, field trials were done at 36 farms in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in July with 7,000 animals, out of which cases were reported in four farms after the vaccine.

“The immunity takes one month to develop and a clean period wherein the animal doesn’t come into contact with the disease is required. But given that the disease is widespread now, the animals would have contracted it before full immunity kicked in,”