Uttar Pradesh has administered 1.58 crore doses of lumpy virus vaccine – claimed to be the highest in the country – to its cattle in less than two months, officials said here on Wednesday. ?The initiative has controlled the spread of the virus to the extent that it is as good as eliminated from the state, they said, even as cattle in different parts of the country continue to become infected by it.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had formed a unit, called ‘Team-9,’ in the first week of August, taking serious note of the skin infection in cattle in other states, for an effective vaccination campaign. Under the operation, several officers of the team visited Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut, Saharanpur, Agra, and Aligarh divisions of the state.

The government was also supported in its campaign by an active cooperation of students of veterinary science colleges and private vaccination workers.The process of vaccination was started with 25 affected districts of Paschimanchal (Western UP) of the state. It was started with the creation of a 320 km-long and 10 km-wide vaccination belt between Pilibhit and Etawah, to contain the spread of the virus from Paschimanchal (Western UP) to Central and Eastern UP, officials said.

Later, a 155 km vaccination belt was also set up from Etawah to Auraiya, they said. Initially, a target of 2 lakh vaccines per day was set, which was later increased to 3 to 4 lakh. The government deployed altogether 2,000 teams and set up 89 dedicated cow medical centres in 26 districts to administer 1.58 crore vaccinations in the state in less than two months, a senior official said. ?

The government gave priority to vaccination of cattle in the inter-district and inter-state border areas, while also inoculating cattle across the cow shelters and cowsheds on a large scale. Having tackled districts in the western and central Uttar Pradesh, the vaccination campaign proceeded to protect cattle in Bundelkhand, and then finally to eastern Uttar Pradesh.?

(With PTI inputs)