Foot-and-mouth vaccination begins in Punjab

Chandigarh, December 10

The Punjab Animal Husbandry Department has started a mass immunisation drive to protect livestock from the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Punjab Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian stated that a total of 68,45,300 FMD vaccine doses had been procured under the National Animal Disease Control Programme to that end.

A total of 48,73,277 FMD vaccine doses have already been administered, covering around 75% of the livestock population so far under this drive, Khudian said. He added that the entire livestock population (around 65,03,505) will be immunised by December 20.

The cabinet minister noted that the jab is totally free. “The key objective of the immunisation drive is to protect our livestock from the foot-and-mouth disease,” he further said.

In view of the serious threat of losses that the spread of FMD poses to milk production, the cabinet minister exhorted dairy farmers across the state to have the livestock owned by them vaccinated against the highly contagious disease.