KARACHI: As the number of cattle suffering from lumpy skin disease crossed 30,000 on Monday with more than half of the cases reported in Karachi alone, the Sindh government finally placed the order for importing around two million doses of vaccines from Turkey at a cost of Rs500 million after getting permission from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap).

Sources said that the Sindh government processed the whole exercise on a war footing basis to initiate vaccination by the end of current week and the latest development had lifted their hopes with regard to meeting the deadline.

They said that a Punjab-based veterinary medicines and vaccines importing and marketing company had won the bid to supply the imported vaccine.

“We are importing 1.9 million doses of these vaccines through Punjab-based Huzaifa International,” Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Secretary Tameezuddin Khero told Dawn. “The provincial government has set aside Rs500 million for the vaccine import programme.”

Over 30,000 animals affected by lumpy skin disease across province; vaccination drive likely to begin later this week

He said that it was mandatory to take permission from Drap for the import of any vaccines or veterinary medicines. “The good thing is our supplier got the approval on Saturday and the order is finally placed today [Monday]. Now all the focus is on transportation of the consignment.”

Cold chain management

The senior official said the vaccines required to be kept at a certain temperature while being transported from Turkey and for that purpose a cargo plane with cold chain equipment was being hired by the supplier.

With all the process in place, he said, the government was expecting the plane with consignment of 1.9m doses to land within the next few days.

A local vaccine importer said that the freeze-dried vaccine is stored usually at a refrigerator temperature, and for transport, the vaccine vials need to be kept at a stable temperature of 4 degrees centigrade to 8°C. During vaccination campaigns, he suggested, all such vaccines are believed to be sensitive to direct sunlight and, therefore, they should be kept in the shades.

For vaccinating the cattle, the government has claimed to have made a “comprehensive plan”.

“We have already designed a detailed plan for distribution of these doses considering the number of cases in each district,” Mr Khero said. “Our provincial task force on LSD under livestock director general has completed its homework. So far most LSD cases are found in Karachi so definitely major focus of the programme will be here.

17,270 animals affected in Karachi

The outbreak of LSD in cows in a number of areas of Sindh and Punjab earlier this month caused much trepidation among dairy and cattle farmers.

Though some farmers claim to have suffered major losses, the government data shows so far little more than 30,000 animals had contracted the infection.

A latest report shared by the provincial task force on LSD suggested that by March 27, total 30,469 animals across the province were found with LSD.

“Among them 17,270 are in Karachi followed by 4,595 in Thatta, 983 in Badin, 950 in Thana Bhula Khan, 847 in Tando Muhammad Khan, 824 in Sanghar, 761 in Hyderabad, 705 in Khairpur, 611 in Kambar Shahdadkot, 565 Jamshoro, 356 in Sujawal, 333 in Larkana and other districts with less than 100 cases,” said an official.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022