Woodworth did not consider this program a benefit to humankind:
Yes, a vaccination was "a crime" and was sometimes likened to a rape (like JWs today say about blood transfusions). Moreover, like almost everything else it has been used as a "sign of the last days:""Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows seeds of syphilis, cancers, eczema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccinations is a crime, an outrage, and a delusion" (Golden Age, Jan. 5,1929, p. 502)
In the world view of Jehovah’s Witnesses, then as now, the three major evil forces in the world are false religion, governments which are ruled by Satan, and oppressive big business. It was the latter that was responsible for the misinformation campaign that vaccinations were beneficial:"Vaccination never prevented anything and never will, and is the most barbarous practice. . . . We are in the last days; and the devil is slowly losing his hold, making a strenuous effort meanwhile to do all the damage he can, and to his credit can such evils be placed. . . . Use your rights as American citizens to forever abolish the devilish practice of vaccinations." (Golden Age, Oct. 12, 1921, p. 17)
These conspiracy theories remind us of more recent articles in the same magazine, now called Awake!, which ran a series of articles under the cover story, "Selling Blood is Big Business." The objective of the series was to give the impression that blood was "red gold" (compare with expression "golden harvest" used above) and that the International Red Cross is guilty of massive deception by using unethical methods to sell blood for profit (Awake! Oct. 22, 1990)."The public is not generally aware of how large an industry is the manufacture of serums, anti-toxins and vaccines, or that big business controls the whole industry. . . . the boards of health endeavor to start an epidemic of smallpox, diphtheria, or typhoid that they may reap a golden harvest by inoculating an unthinking community for the very purpose of disposing of this manufactured filth." (The Golden Age, Jan. 3, 1923, p. 214)
C. J. Woodworth’s primary argument against vaccinations seems to have been that this was "animal filth" that would "pollute" humanity. According to The Golden Age, vaccinations not only caused all kind of dreadful diseases, including the Spanish Flu, it even retarded the intellect of men and caused moral bankruptcy:
We find these same arguments applied to organ transplants and blood transfusions later!"..much looseness of our day along sexual lines may be traceable to the easy and continual violation of the divine commands to keep human and animal blood apart from each other. With cells of foreign blood racing through his veins a man is not normal, not himself, but lacks the poise and balance which makes for self control." (Golden Age, Feb. 4, 1931, p. 293)
Most interestingly, the WTS did, in the same magazine, give some "Biblical" arguments for refusing vaccinations:
This was the first time in our history that the blood prohibition was applied to Christians, earlier it was applied to Jews only. Considering the evidence we have just seen, we may wonder why anyone would trust the judgment and exegesis of Woodworth and his companions!"Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood." (ibid.)
Blood transfusions were not an issue this early. However, in Consolation (the interim name of The Golden Age) Dec. 25, in 1940, p. 19, we find a news item about a self-sacrificing physician who gave his own blood and thereby saved a woman’s life. Only in the late 1940s does the WTS explicitly condemn blood transfusions as "unscriptural," using exactly the same arguments as they had earlier used to ban vaccinations.
At the same time, the WTS could no longer sustain the idea that vaccinations did not work. In The Watchtower, Dec. 15 1952, p. 764, the dramatic reversal is hidden in a Question from Readers section:
The motive for the quick turnabout is immediately apparent from the answer:• Is vaccination a violation of God's law forbidding the taking of blood into the system? -G. C., North Carolina.
It was quite obvious to the WTS that a vaccination ban could easily cost many lives, and there is little doubt that it did cost lives. However, the threat of financial cost to the Watch Tower Society was the one that quickly brought around "new light" on the question! Herein may lie the key to bringing about reform on the blood issue. Make no mistake about it, the WTS does not want to litigate it's position, and they still can't afford to be drawn into a legal battle."The matter of vaccination is one for the individual that has to face it to decide for himself. . . . And our Society cannot afford to be drawn into the affair legally or take the responsibility for the way the case turns out." [bold added]
All previous "Biblical" arguments against vaccinations were suddenly found irrelevant (or, if you will, the "WTS cannot afford" to uphold them). It is noteworthy that C.J. Woodworth had died just prior to this adjustment.
No indeed. And not a single word of apology was ever issued to those who risked and – in some cases – wasted their lives believing in fairy-tales from men who claimed to speak for God. But even then the WTS did not fully retract their formerly used "medical arguments." It merely stated:"After consideration of the matter, it does not appear to us to be in violation of the everlasting covenant made with Noah, as set down in Genesis 9:4, nor contrary to God's related commandment at Leviticus 17:10-14. Most certainly it cannot reasonably or Scripturally be argued and proved that, by being vaccinated, the inoculated person is either eating or drinking blood and consuming it as food or receiving a blood transfusion. Vaccination does not bear any relationship to or any likeness to the intermarriage of angelic "sons of God" with the daughters of men, as described in Genesis 6:1-4. Neither can it be put in the same class as described at Leviticus 18:23, 24, which forbids the mingling of humans with animals. It has nothing to do with sex relations."
What word of comfort was offered to those who had believed the nonsense?"Medical science, in fact, claims that vaccination actually results in building up the vitality of the blood to resist the disease against which the person is inoculated. But, of course, that is a question for each individual concerned to decide for himself and as he sees it to be Jehovah's will for him."
Even today the remnants of this policy can be found among older JWs who still believe that vaccinations are harmful and dangerous and who encourage their children and grandchildren to avoid them. Once the WTS finally abandons it's present blood policy it will no doubt take many decades to gradually re-educate the general JW population thus non-blood alternatives will remain essential in treatment of JW patients."We merely offer the above information on request, but can assume no responsibility for the decision and course the reader may take."