Being a peer-to-peer vaccinator - Janet Tsiga

Janet offers her insight into the role of the peer-to-peer vaccinator in the Trust’s annual flu campaign.

Hello, my name is Janet Tsiga and I’m a Specialist Autism Nurse at the Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service (LADS). I’m also a peer-to-peer vaccinator for this year’s flu campaign and this means I’m trained to give my colleagues the flu vaccination at a time and place that works for them.

It’s not the first time I’ve taken on this role. I was also a peer-to-peer vaccinator last year and a ‘flu champion’ in a former position.

My motivation is simple – I see this as my job. I have a responsibility to help my colleagues to protect themselves, should they choose to have the flu jab, and I’m pleased to do so. We can’t come to work if we’re poorly, and the last thing we want to do is pass the virus to our service users – we have a duty to protect them too – so that’s a big driver for me.

I’ve received some great feedback from people who see a lot of value in the role of the peer-to-peer vaccinator. There are around 70 of us across the Trust and I’ve been told that it’s the flexibility that staff find most useful – being able to get their flu jab locally and at a time that suits them. Very recently, one of the Trust’s psychologists said that it was great to have me just round the corner at Aire Court as they hadn’t been able to attend a set clinic or ‘walkaround’ session to get their jab.

While it’s lovely to receive this feedback, there’s one part of being a peer-to-peer vaccinator that I really love – and it’s one of the reasons why I’d recommend this role to colleagues. People I haven’t met before have been coming up to me at work and asking ‘are you Janet?’ You get to interact with people and build relationships with colleagues you wouldn’t normally speak to.

In the first five days, I vaccinated around 19 people and I’m sure over the course of the campaign, it’ll be many more. I’d encourage colleagues wanting the flu vaccine to seek out their nearest peer-to-peer vaccinator by searching ‘flu’ on Staffnet – we’re here for you and we’re happy to help!