BACKGROUND: Perceptions of 'dread risk,' information source beliefs, and trust in these sources are important variables towards understanding vaccine attitudes. The main objective of this research was to learn the associations among these phenomena and, particularly, how these variables may impact our understanding of vaccine attitudes. METHODS: In the summer of 2020, a total of 336 ( RESULTS: Results suggest participants had generally low levels of negative vaccine attitudes ( CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that vaccine communication efforts should continue to identify individuals' 'dread risk' perceptions about vaccines and emphasize this content in messaging. Future research should aim to understand more about the relationships between negative vaccine attitudes, '