Children in Rapid City and Watertown are among the first in South Dakota to roll up their sleeves for an H1N1 vaccine clinic.

In Watertown, the doors opened at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. They started out with long lines and 1,200 doses of the H1N1 vaccine. Despite those crowds, more than 700 doses of the vaccine were left by late afternoon.

The clinic began by treating children ranging from six months to four years old to the vaccine. When hundreds of doses were left, it decided to open its doors to other people who are part of the first tier.

Among others, those people include pregnant women, older children who have underlying medical conditions and people who live with or care for kids younger than six months old.

Like a lot of parents, Michael Gross didn't want his kids to miss out. He lined up a half hour before the doors opened.

"I figured there'd be a lot of parents coming out here that care about their kids and want to make sure that they get the shot," Gross said.

When Gross lined up, there were at least 100 people. By the time the doors opened, there were already about 200 waiting in line.

Amy Thompson had to miss work Wednesday morning to bring her kids to the clinic. For her, it was worth the wait.
"Just a couple hours while I'm waiting in line is not as big a deal as days for them to be sick," Thompson said.

"I'd like to prevent them from having to go to the hospital and stay healthy this year," Gross said.

With 19 stations set up to administer the vaccine, the lines didn't last long but were followed by a steady flow of traffic.