Which Christians refuse vaccinations on religious grounds?

I'm not sure about the situation in England, however not too long ago a similar situation happened in The Netherlands. There was a big discussion, so most sources are in Dutch, mainly the Dutch Wikipedia with it's references.

There are two groups who do not vaccinate their children: A) People in the The Anthroposophical Society believe that vaccinations affect the immune system. B) Orthodox protestant reformed groups, which is a very traditional church with it's own clothing style, schools, hospitals, politic party etc. They do not watch TV or use a computer because the bible does not say anything about modern technology.

The main reason they do not vaccinate their children is because of Sunday 10, Q&A 27 from the Heidelberg Catechism, which reads:

Question 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?

Answer: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but be his fatherly hand.

They believe that all good comes from God, and sickness is a punishment from God. They believe that God wants their children to be healthy He'll make them better. If God wants them to become disabled due to an illness, it's His will, and they accept that.

There is much discussion about this topic within this denomination. Some of their church leaders say that it is something between the you and God to decide what is right. If you feel that the vaccination places technology between you your dependence on God, you should not use vaccinations. However if you do not feel guilty when using vaccinations you are free to use them.

From the 1920s onward, when vaccinations were being promoted but the public were nervous, if not skeptical about this comparatively new form of preventative medicine, there were a great deal of negative comments published by a whole raft of different groups, not all of them Christian ones. But, over time, as vaccinations proved their worth (despite there always being a few bad results with some individuals) the public began to trust them more. The negative comments lessened and nowadays the issue of whether Christians should, or should not get vaccinated has almost ceased to be a religious issue. It is a matter of individual conscience, except in a few groups where leaders let it be known (to their flocks) that they think it is wrong, and they discourage them. Where congregation members let their leaders do their thinking for them, they accept their leaders' arguments and suppose that they are, indeed, promoting a biblical stance against vaccinations. We see a bit of this in America in some small Protestant groups, where they are refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Please note, however, that some reasons have nothing to do with Christian faith, but are based on the right to refuse medical treatments, according to individual conscience. More than a few people object to what is increasingly looking like government blackmail - not allowing people to certain large public events unless they can prove that they have been fully inoculated against Covid-19. It is also involving air travel passengers.

One example that showed religious reasoning in the 1920s and 30s, but which no longer prevails, is in the following quotes. But let me stress at the outset, that this group no longer holds these views. Individuals in the group are free to decide for themselves now. Back in the 1920s and 30s, however, the religious principle invoked was based on their belief that they should not take any blood into their own veins. The view was that vaccination caused animal blood cells to be injected into humans, and that was equated with eating blood. Here are the relevant quotes for that:

"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."

"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 heath 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."

"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."

"Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood."

"As vaccination is a direct injection of animal matter in the blood stream, vaccination is a direct violation of the law of Jehovah God."

Quotes from The Golden Age magazine, from 1921 to 1935, particularly Feb. 4, 1931 issue, page 293.

By the late 1980s all of that had long stopped, and more neutral comments were made in The Awake! magazine (which replaced The Golden Age). For example, in the 22 June 1990 issue, page 28 merely reported statistics about the phenomenal success of the global smallpox vaccination campaign. It added that the World Health Organization held a few vials of the virus, but made no comment (nor any reference to the publisher's earlier stance, as quoted above!)

There are many factors involved in public reluctance to accept vaccinations. Ignorance at the outset is usually replaced, in time, with understanding of the many benefits, so that harmful results are viewed by the majority of the public as a lesser risk than not being vaccinated. If Christians state they have religious grounds for refusing, they may quote their religious leaders, or say it is a matter of individual Christian conscience. But some of the religious reasons given in the 1920s and 30s no longer get a mention because they are clearly just plain wrong.