From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 10:30 PM IST

Already delayed by over three months, the vaccination against the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease in Uttar Pradesh has suffered yet another blow with the health officials here alleging supply of 'unfit' vaccine stocks sent from the Union Health Ministry.

When the fresh stock of vaccine will arrive is still not certain even as over 1,000 people have been affected with various forms of encephalitis mainly in the eastern region of the state.

'Without consulting the officials of the central government we cannot say anything about when the vaccination drive will start,' director general (family welfare) M.L. Khatloiya told IANS.

'We have already conveyed the matter to the Union health ministry and a team from their side is expected to arrive today,' he added.

JE is primarily associated with the monsoon and post-monsoon season. The occurrence of the disease is determined by factors like rainfall, temperature and humidity, officials said.

Taking this into account, the vaccination programme was to be undertaken before the arrival of the monsoon, they added.

In this season, JE and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) have collectively claimed about 230 lives in the state, according to official records.

The stock of 'unfit' vaccine, worth Rs.20 million arrived in Lucknow at Amausi Airport through air cargo Thursday, officials said.

'We found that the colour of the Vaccine Voil Monitor (VVM) changed depicting that the vaccines were spoilt,' said an official, who was present at the airport when the stock arrived.

For inoculating over 1 million children, the vaccines were brought under the immunisation programme for nine districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh including Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Siddharthnagar, and Maharajganj.

After the major outbreak of JE in 2005 in Uttar Pradesh, the vaccination programme was undertaken by the state government in 2006 with assistance from the Central government, officials said.

In 2005, JE claimed about 1,500 lives and infected 6,000 people after which 6,500,000 children below 15 years were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh, officials added.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)