Steering Committee Meeting, Online, 27th October 2022

On the 27th October 2022, the RISE-Vac Steering Committee, comprising all nine RISE-Vac partners, met online for a technical meeting. The focus of this meeting was a workshop organised by WP7 of the project on ‘Preparedness for flu season in prison settings: what vaccination strategy?’. Each project partner gave a short presentation on their country’s policy for flu and COVID-19 vaccination in prison settings, and what the current data suggest this winter will look like.  

This workshop was organised due to growing concerns from scientists around the world of a ‘tripledemic’ this winter involving influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The flu season in the southern hemisphere has shown concerning trends of high infection rates, and fears are growing the 2022/23 flu season in the northern hemisphere will follow a similar pattern.  

As each partner presented their data and national situation, it became clear that action is needed in order to ensure equitable access to flu and COVID-19 vaccination is in place in all RISE-Vac Consortium countries, and beyond, this winter. The output of this workshop is an opinion piece calling to preventive action for the 2022/23 flu season, which has been submitted to a scientific journal for publication. 

As ever, the RISE-Vac Consortium provided a platform for a rich and fruitful exchange of ideas, opinions and national perspectives and highlighted an area of urgent need for people living in prison. We hope our united voice on this matter will raise awareness of the importance of vaccination in this population and help make this winter safer for those living and working in prison, and ultimately for the community as a whole.  

We will keep you posted on the publication of our opinion piece!