FAIRBANKS — Parents brought their children to the first of three swine flu clinics for school-age kids in the Fairbanks North Star Borough on Thursday. Another vaccination clinic is scheduled for Tuesday, and a third is set for Dec. 3.

The clinics are being conducted with the assistance of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, though children getting the free vaccinations do not have to be a student attending a school in the Fairbanks district. The clinics are open to children ages 4 to 18.

“I wanted to get them inoculated as soon as possible because this is a pretty rampant thing, this virus going around,” said David Gregoroff, who brought his

5- and 8-year-old daughters to the clinic at North Pole Middle School. “I wanted them to be as protected as possible.”

The state Division of Public Health notes that healthy people ages 10 to 64 need only one dose of the vaccine to become effectively immunized. Children ages 6 months to 9 years should be given a second dose about four weeks after the first. The school district has announced that it will host additional shot clinics to ensure younger students receive the second dose of the vaccine. Those clinics have not been scheduled.

The clinics are serving one of the five at-risk groups as determined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The at-risk groups include pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical personnel, anyone between 6 months and 24 years of age, and people ages 25 to 64 who have chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

Parents at Thursday’s clinic cited the importance of vaccinations.

“I had measles or mumps as a kid before the immunizations were ever around, and I suffered as a kid,” said Bob Dykes, who brought his four children to the clinic.

“The immunizations provide a barrier to illness and sickness that we could easily prevent by taking them,” Dykes said.

The federal government allocated 105,400 doses of swine flu vaccine to Alaska. The state had received 99,160 doses as of Nov. 13, according to the Division of Public Health, and was distributing them throughout the state. “Every community is receiving their fair share,” the division notes on its Web site.

Jane Hannah, who brought her son and daughter to the clinic, seemed satisfied at the government’s response in Alaska. “A lot of people were concerned that the vaccine would come out too late, but I think it’s come out in plenty of time for the flu season,” she said.

Maureen Kauleinamoku, school district nursing coordinator, said the district is prepared to treat 1,500 children at each clinic and more vaccine might be available before the other clinics are held. Parents haven’t had too many concerns, she said.

“The main concern that I’ve heard from parents was simply the side effects, are there any possible serious side effects, and to this point, no, there isn’t,” she said.

Meanwhile, a Fairbanks man who died Saturday is the 10th death in Alaska from swine flu.

Seven of the deaths have been Fairbanks-related. The state Health Department said it’s looking for the Fairbanks connection as it monitors people hospitalized with the virus in Alaska.

State Health Department spokesman Greg Wilkinson told The Anchorage Daily News the most recent victim was a man in his 50s who had multiple health problems. Nine of the 10 who died had underlying health conditions. The 10th was a child.

Staff writer Rod Boyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report.