The Virginia Health Department held a conference on H1N1 Thursday. State Commissioner Dr. Karen Remley spoke of the importance of getting a child vaccinated.

She said a recent study found the vaccination is safe in children and pregnant women.

An Associated Press poll shows that about a third of parents don't want to vaccinate their child.

Remley says the health department is happy with the number of parents choosing to vaccinate statewide.

"Great news is we see a lot of parents who understand the power of prevention through vaccination, who are coming forward and asking their kids to vaccinated in school. So our forms for parents to get their kids vaccinated is about 60 to 80 percent," says Remley.

The H1N1 vaccine started to become available in area schools last week.

Remley says kids who are too young for school or who are home-schooled should be taken to the local health department for vaccinations.

The health departments are vaccinating high priority groups, which includes people from six months to 24 years old and pregnant women.

"There was a study that came out Monday that looked at H1N1 safety in pregnant women. It said it was both safe and that they only needed one dose. So again, this is an opportunity for me to say, if you're pregnant, now is the time to call your doctor," says Remley.