Jason Fanion, a volunteer firefirefighter in Barrington, administers the swine flu vaccine to Ellie Wind, 7, Monday at the Primrose Hill School in Barrington. A list of schools where swine flu clinics will be held Tuesday and Wednesday appears on A2.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

JOHNSTON –– Wearing their school uniforms, gym sweats or after-school clothes, students at St. Rocco School made history Monday when they lined up for swine flu vaccinations.

St. Rocco was among the 10 schools from Block Island to Smithfield to hold the state’s first vaccination clinics. The schools were chosen at random.

While the students seemed apprehensive as they waited, the adults accompanying them weren’t.

“As a parent, I think you should do everything you can to protect your child,” said Therese Picard of Scituate, who waited with her three sons, Andrew, 5, Jake, 8, and Tim, 10. “If, God forbid, something should happen, I would never forgive myself,” she said.

In the cafeteria, where four students at a time were given shots by volunteers from the Rhode Island Medical Reserve Corps, parents chatted casually. It seemed more like the intermission of a school play than the first day of the state’s massive effort to inoculate 180,000 schoolchildren against a flu that has become a pandemic.

Alexia Drohan, 12, held the shoulders of her brother, Darrius Drohan, 5, as they waited in line with their grandmother and their father, Carmine Porreca. He said he had some reservations about side effects, but their grandmother, Patricia Drohan said “I think it was understood –– the shot was there. We’re getting it.”

A steady stream of students and their families arrived for the 4 p.m. opening. It took about 40 minutes to get through the whole process of checking in, waiting for the vaccine and then waiting to see if there was any adverse reaction.

Reporters and photographers were kept from entering the cafeteria to document their role in history. “They’re telling us no media can be in this room,” St. Rocco Principal Magdalen Chianese said.

Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Health Department, explained later that the agency considers the vaccine clinics to be health-care sites that are covered by patient privacy laws.

At about 5:15 p.m., someone from inside the cafeteria told the police, “We got a kid that went down.” An ambulance was called.

“I hope he’s OK,” said Denise Baxter of Cranston, as she left with her son, Kyle Baxter, 10, who said his arm was numb.

Families continued to enter the school, unfazed by the ambulance and, later, a fire engine parked on Atwood Avenue, responding to another incident with a student.

Beardsworth, reached by phone later, said the participation rate for the first round of clinics will be announced Tuesday. “From initial reports we received, everything seemed to go very well,” she said.

In Providence, a clinic at the Leviton Annex of the Alfred Lima Elementary School in the West End appeared to go smoothly.

“Very organized,” said Eric Banchs, who brought his 6-year-old daughter, Giomary, to the after-school school clinic. “Some kids were crying because they didn’t want to be hurt.”

Banchs said there was no line when he and his daughter arrived, and that the longest part of the process was the after-inoculation wait. She said the shot “hurt a little.”

Betsy Lana, another parent, said she was unsure until Monday whether to bring her daughter, Nayrene, 6, for the vaccination because of uncertainty about whether the shot itself would make her child sick.

But in the end, Lana said, she decided that the odds of keeping her daughter safe were better if she got the vaccine. She praised the school for briefing the children about the vaccine while they were in class during the day.

Guissel Quezada, also 6, came to the school with her father and two older brothers and cried when she saw other children being stuck with needles. Her father, Ramon Quezada, calmed her down by holding her on his lap.

There will be 14 more clinics Tuesday.

Richard C. Dujardin and Felice Freyer contributed to this report.

dnaylor@projo.com