Vaccinations for the so-called swine flu, or H1N1, will be available free to Yukoners through a large-scale public immunization campaign to be held this winter.

The vaccinations will be given out in the same way the annual seasonal flu vaccines are - at public clinics held at Yukon College, the legislature, the Elijah Smith Building and other public buildings, Pat Living, a Department of Health and Social Services spokeswoman, said Monday.

The clinics will be open in the evenings during the week and all day Saturdays as soon as the vaccine is available.

More than 30,000 doses are on order and expected to arrive in late November, Living said.

Seasonal flu vaccination clinics will be begin in October, as usual, she noted.

As with seasonal flu prevention programs, there will be no school-based campaign, Living said.

Setting up in schools presents a whole list of logistical issues such as sending permission forms home to parents, which they have to sign and send back.

This way, she said, families can come to the clinic together and parents can be present to ask questions about the vaccination and get immunized themselves.

The territory's communicable disease officer met with school officials last Friday and handed out information kits which will be passed on to parents.

"We are saying that if kids are sick, they should be staying home, because schools are incubators," Living said. "They are not places that lend themselves to social distancing."

Symptoms of the H1N1 virus include fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, body aches, fatigue and lack of appetite.

Someone who has caught the flu is contagious for about seven days in mild cases, according to the Health Canada website, but people with severe cases and children with persistent symptoms may be contagious for up to 10 days.

The national health agency has made it very clear it does not advise closing schools to prevent the spread of H1N1.

"This measure may not be effective in preventing transmission," the website says, "and the benefits of keeping schools open currently outweighs the risk of transmission in these settings.

"This recommendation will continue to be reviewed based on the situation in Canada."

Although the H1N1 flu caused a flurry of health warnings from national and international health organizations when it was first identified in Mexico last spring, Yukoners have remained relatively unaffected and unconcerned.

There have only been a handful of confirmed cases in the territory, and medical health officer Brendan Hanley advised local doctors they did not need to test all suspected cases for the H1N1 virus, only the more severe ones.

"We're not getting a lot of calls about this flu," Living said. "... I don't want to say that people aren't concerned, but people aren't overly concerned - people are not panicking."

Calls to several local pharmacists turned up the same response.

Tracy Keefer, owner of the Shoppers Drug Mart on Main Street, said Monday she has not had anyone come in to ask her about the vaccination, nor has she filled any prescriptions for the antiviral drugs believed to prevent swine flu and eliminate symptoms.

Unlike vaccination, the prescription antivirals do not make a person immune to the flu, and Health Canada advises that otherwise healthy people with mild cases do not use the drugs.

"We do not have sufficient information to suggest that this influenza virus requires the use of antivirals. Most patients in Canada are recovering well on their own," reads the Health Canada website.

"There is a risk that the virus could be resistant to antiviral treatment if antivirals are overused to treat mild illness. The antiviral stockpile is a finite resource. We want to be sure not to run out before they are really needed."

In total, 72 Canadians have died from the H1N1 virus. The majority of deaths, 48, occurred in Ontario and Quebec.

Health Canada provided these tips to keep kids healthy:

• Teach your child to cough and sneeze into the crook of the elbow.

• Wash your hands well and often and teach your children to do the same.

• Stay home if you are feeling unwell, and remain there until the symptoms have passed.

• If a child shows symptoms of the flu at school, have a parent or guardian come to pickup the child rather than sending him or her home on the school bus.