TABLE 2—

Key Differences in Beliefs About Vaccination Between VAERS Respondents and the General Population

	% Agree (% Strongly Agree)
Belief	VAERS (n = 124)	General Population (n = 1600)a
Children should be immunized only against diseases that are serious.	70 (50)	39 (20)
I am more likely to trust vaccines that have been around for a while.	38 (15)	88 (64)
Vaccines are always proven to be very safe before they are approved for use.	7 (3)	71 (33)
Government immunization requirements protect my child from getting diseases from nonimmunized children.	34 (10)	84 (54)

^aData from Gellin et al.16