MOANALUA, Hawaii -- Students at Moanalua Middle School became the first in Hawaii to get the state's free H1N1 flu vaccination on Friday.

Other public, private and charter schools will have the vaccine clinics in the coming days and weeks.

Eighth-grader Erica Luera was one of 400 Moanalua Middle School students to get the H1N1 vaccine.

"It was great. I love needles," Luera said.

In Hawaii, 329 elementary and middle schools are participating in the H1N1 vaccination clinics. The state hopes to prevent a swine flu outbreak. Children are considered in the high-risk category.

"I am worried about it because I don't want to die," Luera said.

About 43 percent of Moanalua Middle School's more than 900 students have turned in their consent forms to get the H1N1 vaccine, which health officials said is about right in the middle of school participation.

"It is comparable and it is what we expected. In some schools, we'll see a lot higher uptake in other schools less. It's just really varies," state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said.

Participation for the regular flu vaccine is as high as 70 percent in some schools and as low as the teens in other schools, Park said.

The state does not have the final numbers yet for the total number of H1N1 consent forms that have been turned in.