Emergency Vaccination of Cattle with Goatpox Vaccine against Lumpy Skin Disease in India: Evaluation of Efficacy and Potency

Background: Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a re-emerging transboundary viral disease of cattle and buffaloes, causing significant economic losses and classified as a notifiable disease by the WOAH. Mass vaccination of susceptible animals is the principal strategy for disease control. Live attenuated Goatpox vaccine of Uttarkashi strain is authorized by the government for control of LSD as an emergency measure in India during 2022. Methods: A vaccination trial was undertaken to determine the optimum dose of Goatpox vaccine for LSD prevention in cattle. Randomly selected heifers were allocated into four groups (A, B, C and D), each containing eight animals. Group A served as the unvaccinated control, while groups B, C and D received 1 mL, 2 mL and 3 mL doses, respectively, of the Goatpox vaccine containing 1 × 103.0 TCID50 per dose. Result: Group D, vaccinated with three times the dose used in goats (3 mL), exhibited the highest and most persistent humoral immune responses, which continued through day 35 post-vaccination (p greater than 0.05). Results indicated that an increased dose provided better and sustained protection in cattle across the trial period.