RISE-Vac Reaching the hard-to-reach: Increasing access and vaccine uptake among prison population in Europe 

Project summary

RISE-Vac aims to improve the health of prison population in Europe by promoting vaccine literacy, enhancing vaccine offer and increasing vaccine uptake.

Tackling low vaccine coverage is a public health priority. Despite efforts, pockets of unvaccinated individuals persist in Europe. People in prison constitute a sizeable fraction of the population, in absolute number and for its rapid turnover. Incarcerated individuals largely belong to socially deprived communities with low socio-economic status and education level, high disease burden and prevalence of risk behaviours; and often, sub-optimal access to care. Prisons may be a gateway to offer appropriate and high-quality healthcare and vaccination services to individuals while in detention.

To respond to this public health priority, the RISE-Vac consortium brings together multisectoral skills, solid experience and well-established networks in the prison health field, reflecting epidemiological and structural diversities of European context.

Using state-of-the-art methodologies, RISE-Vac will

• gather existing evidence on vaccination strategies and services targeting people in prison and combine it with prospectively collected data on (i) attitudes and vaccine learning among prison population and staff; (ii) vaccination status and vaccine uptake during incarceration
• use a co-creation approach to develop information and training materials tailored to people in prison and staff to increase their vaccine learning
• develop and pilot models of vaccination delivery to respond to the needs of prison population, prison settings characteristics and national priorities.

The benefits resulting from RISE-Vac activities will also accrue in the general population, increasing overall vaccine coverage. By upholding the principle that prison health is public health, the RISE-Vac project will provide tools and data-driven, evidence-based options to guide European countries in improving health status of people in prison and European population at large.

Consortium partners

RISE-Vac stakeholders and expected impact

Funder: EUROPEAN COMMISSION CONSUMERS, HEALTH, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD EXECUTIVE AGENCY. Health and Food Safety Unit. Project Grants (HP-PJ-2020) 3rd EU Health Programme