Bhubaneswar, Feb. 22: Thousands of livestock inspectors in the state would be the footsoldiers in the fight against bird flu pandemic. Only that they don?t know how to stab the thousands of chickens and birds at the poultry farms with the R2BT vaccines.

A day after state director of veterinary and animal husbandry B.K. Dhal boasted that ?all chickens in the unorganised sector? would be given shots of the vaccine, confusion reigned at the Animal Disease Institute (ADI) at Phulnakhara, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

Dhal claimed that the state had a ?stock of nearly 1.75 lakh R2BT vaccines?, but the experts at ADI don?t share his enthusiasm.

For a start, the six animal researchers at the decrepit institute are clueless as to which nerve to stab with the R2BT vaccine.

If the vets miss the nerve in the wing of the chicken, the shot would be useless.

The six researchers who would impart the vaccination training to 3,000 livestock inspectors haven?t vaccinated a single chicken so far.

?We attended a two-day workshop on bird flu vaccination in Calcutta in January this year. But that was all theoretical,? said one of the animal researchers, who seemed flummoxed when asked which nerve to inject the vaccine with.

?Two days of training is barely of any help until you know how to vaccinate,? he admitted.

Officials at the ADI also contested the veterinary director?s claim of a stock of 1.75 lakh vaccines.

If this was not despairing enough, then consider the logistical nightmares. The team of six has to train more than 3,000 livestock inspectors, who would fan out to all remote areas, so that not a single chicken is left unvaccinated.

But the livestock inspectors who are just comfortable in dealing with first-aid cases, insemination and common vaccines had no subject of poultry diseases included in their diploma course curriculum.