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Doctrine changes · Claim record

jw.org currently states that Jehovah's Witnesses 'are not opposed to vaccination' and quotes Awake! of 22 August 1965 as saying vaccination 'is something for personal decision'.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-vaccination-current-positionConcerns 19 September 2026Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 19 September 2026 Verified

jw.org currently states that Jehovah's Witnesses 'are not opposed to vaccination' and quotes Awake! of 22 August 1965 as saying vaccination 'is something for personal decision'. jw.org FAQ, 19 September 2026Awake!, 22 August 1965

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

jw.org FAQ, “Are Jehovah's Witnesses Opposed to Vaccination?”

19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“No. Jehovah's Witnesses are not opposed to vaccination. We view vaccination as a personal decision for each Christian to make.”

Current FAQ; cites Awake! 22 Aug 1965 and later items; does not mention the 1929-1931 Golden Age material.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened; wording confirmed. Date field = access date (page undated).

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-jworg-faq-vaccination

Primary JW publication Supported

Awake!, “(vaccination item)”

22 August 1965 · p.20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“The question as to whether you and your children should be vaccinated is something for personal decision.”

Quoted verbatim, with this date, on jw.org's FAQ 'Are Jehovah's Witnesses Opposed to Vaccination?'.

No online copy located.

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Original not opened (Awake! pre-1970 not on wol; no scan found). The sentence and date are quoted by the organisation itself on jw.org and match jwfacts; page 20 comes from secondary citation only.

Corroborated by. src-jworg-faq-vaccination

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-g-1965-0822-vaccination-personal-decision

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-doctrine-vaccination-current-position/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.