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The Refusers: Anti-Vaccination Rock & Roll

July 31, 2012 @ 4:34 pm (Updated: 8:25 am - 8/1/12 )

By Rachel Belle

the refusers photo 1Listen to The Refusers: Anti-Vaccination Rock and Roll

Bainbridge Island Dad, Michael Belkin, thinks vaccinating children does more harm than good. But instead of just writing an op-ed or standing on a soapbox, he's decided to combine his strong beliefs with his passion in music. About two years ago he formed The Refusers, a protest rock band with a cause, and their title track, Do No Harm, has gone viral on youtube; watched by more than 200,000 people.

"This music is about something. That's one thing that I find lacking in a lot of modern music. The songs are 'Baby I love you, baby I need you,' or some kind of variation on that theme. We're about something. Sort of in the spirit of the Occupy Movement: There's something wrong out there and we're trying to make people aware of it. It's about awareness."

All 15 songs on the bands soon-to-be-completed album focus on the danger of vaccinating.

"We have a song called Little Prick which is a humorous little take about getting a needle stuck into you. We have another song called Get Your Flu Shot. Every time you walk into a drug store, these days, you're accosted by people trying to push flu shots onto you."

Michael's strong feelings come from a deeply sad time in his life, when his daughter Lila died.

"She was five weeks old and they said, 'Bring her in for her shots.' I said, 'Okay.' At that point, I didn't know anything about vaccines. I thought, 'Oh, great, it protects against diseases.' She became fussy and about 13 hours later it became gruesome; lips turned blue, foaming at the mouth, she died. They found a swollen brain and I'm absolutely convinced that the Hepatitis B vaccine she took did that."

A UC Berkeley statistics grad, and former Wall Street worker, Michael delved into the research.

"I testified to Congress about the Hepatitis B vaccine. The number of cases of death, from the vaccine, outnumbered the cases of the disease in the Under One age group. Hepatitis B, you get it from sharing needles or from sexual transmission. So they are giving this vaccine to newborn babies within the first 24 hours [of being born]."

Michael has gone on to have two more children, who have not been vaccinated, and his son Sebastian is the band's drummer.

"He's 11-years-old and he's our drummer. He's a good funk rock drummer! I played with Dallas Taylor, from Crosby Stills and Nash, I used to make my living in LA in the music business. My son, he started at the age of four, and he just came at it and he is a good funk rock drummer. The stuff he grew up with, Tower of Power, James Brown, he's not a copy cat, he has a really good feel for the groove."

Michael says he wants his son to grow up not taking things at face value, to investigate, to question, to protest if things aren't right.

"Any college in Massachusetts, including Harvard and MIT, the Hepatitis B vaccine that killed my daughter, is a requirement, so don't even bother applying. He's going to face that in his life. I want him to be an intelligent resister."

Michael thinks vaccines are unnecessarily pushed by money hungry drug companies and says his kids are not putting other kids in danger.

"Let me make something very clear: I am not making the decision about vaccinations for anyone but my own family. I don't want to make the decision for you or your children. But we are standing up for the right to say it's okay to refuse a vaccine."

More Rachel Belle

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Comments (18)


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  • Cougsfan34 wrote...
    I'm absolutley convinced....
    July 31, 2012 4:39 pm
    Because, god forbid it could be anything else that would have caused a swollen brain and or manifested any of the other symptoms. I like how we just abstracting ignore any other possibility and automatically blame that who has the most money. To bad he took everything on Youtube at face value with the evil drug companies and their poison. AS for his kid getting into MIT or Harvard, I think the fact the kid doesn't have the vaccines is the least of his worries. Just another person on the lunatic fringe about whatever we hate this week. These stories seem to recycle every month or so. Its either corporatism, guns, vaccines, war, processed food, or is facebook privacy really private? So according to this logic when my wife miscarried at 21 weeks I can blame the doctors and the evil drug companies for giving her all those drugs and vitamins and telling her to sit in the pool??? He should change his band name to the dipsh**ts. I'm going to turn the radio to Country music on the drive home. Thanks!
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  • Snout wrote...
    Wow, a band
    July 31, 2012 5:53 pm
    that doesn't use needles. Far out, man.
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  • Drool wrote...
    I Wonder if these People...
    July 31, 2012 6:34 pm
    ...have ever spoken to somebody that had polio as a child. I know as person that did. Crippled for the rest of his life.
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  • SeattleThunder wrote...
    Shame on Rachel, KIRO, and MNW! Tragic lies...
    July 31, 2012 9:34 pm
    The fact that you made this a story is embarrassing. This dangerous fringe "movement" does not deserve this publicity and validation. Giving this lame band a venue for the ill-informed, anti-vax platform is shameful. You all will share a piece of the responsibility for the whooping cough epidemic in this area, the measles outbreak in this area, and the failure to achieve “herd immunity” levels of vaccination (look it up). This is not a “controversy” with two relevant and “equally supported” viewpoints- this is a small group of tragically (and almost always unrelated) damaged people with clouded perspective on a topic that they have no basis for understanding, raging against a vastly outnumbering majority (99+%) of educated experts, which is supported by strong science, painstaking policy creation, and public interest at center. This kind of publication is not just offensive, it actually has a body count (see “Jenny McCarthy body count”). As of today, there have been over 100,000 illnesses and 1016 preventable deaths since Jenny started this type of anti-vax campaign. I hope this type of dangerous nonsense is not repeated on this site.
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  • SeattleThunder wrote...
    Misinformed about "money hungry"...
    July 31, 2012 9:40 pm
    The sad truth is that the margin for vaccine production is so small that there are actually shortages of these medicines. Many vaccines are produced at a loss in the pursuit of public health. The paranoid conspiracy theories about “evil big pharma” just don’t hold up in the selfish war against the single greatest advance in public health since water sanitation.
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  • circuitfr wrote...
    SeattleThunder
    August 1, 2012 7:07 am
    Please cite your sources where vaccine companies are LOSING MONEY!?! Pure myth. Here is one from Gardasil which it's own scientists admit, the testing doesn't actually show it PREVENTS ANYTHING. Here is walstreet quote "Revenue predictions for Merck are that GARDASIL profits will climb from $300 million to $4 billion over the next year." Yup, nothing to see here, not about the money. It isn't about the "fringe kooks" It's about being informed and willingly shooting up with anything the government tells you. It's the same with the Swine Flu. My wife was pregnant at the time and the Dr. had her in tears saying you will die and your baby will die if you don't get this vaccine. They flat out told her every person in their practice that got swing flu had died. It was pathetic. Guess what, my wife didn't die or get the swine flu, which is the same thing as the normal flu. They want to shoot you up with Hep B, A an STD, 2 seconds after birth. A babies immune system is not capable of handling that. They don't need a Hep B shot unless you're wife was sleeping around or doing drugs. The hospitals are too lazy to test each mother and also, it's a HUGE money money maker when they are required to give that shot right after birth. I had to sign a stupid waiver to not get that shot. We do get shots we believe are worthwhile, I.E., polio and whatnot. I'm completely against just getting every vaccine, "just because" A lot of the vaccines are for diseases that are absolutely harmless.
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  • SeattleThunder wrote...
    Gardasil is off topic...
    August 1, 2012 7:28 am
    The profit from Gardasil is a unique exception, and NOT a “compulsory government forced” vaccine. I am sorry your wife was scared. You should find a nice doctor.
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  • John S Paul wrote...
    Hey, ciruitfr, here's a novel idea -
    August 1, 2012 1:53 pm
    How about you citing YOUR source?! How about holding yourself to the same standards that you demand of others?!

    "Here's a walstreet quote...." Really? That's the best that you can do? Just some generic quote from someone somewhere on Wall Street? No name? No company or publication affiliation? How can the veracity of YOUR information stand up to any scrutiny if you won't provide who actually said it?

    You're no better than R&D's Don who is ALWAYS demanding that someone cite their source when making ANY kind of claim; but whenever HE makes any kind of claim and is asked to cite HIS source, he hems and haws, interrupts, and attempts to change the subject before sheepishly admitting that he read it somewhere, and now can't remember exactly where he read it. Either that, or it was TMZ. Oh, yeah - THERE'S a reliable source...!!

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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    "They found a swollen brain and I'm absolutely convinced that the Hepatitis B vaccine she took did that."
    July 31, 2012 9:52 pm
    I am sincerely sorry for Belkin's loss. I can't imagine what it would be like to have my daughter lost in such a horribly tragic manner. BUT his unqualified statement and his likely inaccurate conclusion is downright scary. What were the results of the autopsy? What was actually found by the coroner as to actual causes - not the upset rantings of a father who is justifiably angry about the death of his daughter - but what are the actual medical facts here? Anyone who blindly denies vaccines is no better than the folks they claim 'are forcing dangerous vaccines upon us'. I've rarely seen actual scientific data to support the claims, but have seen much rhetoric and false scientific sounding (but entirely unscientific) blather about vaccines.
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  • AKAF wrote...
    And I wonder why I turn RnD off at 4:37
    July 31, 2012 11:41 pm
    Has this gal just become just a blabbering pie hole or has she always been this way? Actual research into the subject instead of one small group? Small pox, anyone? Other shots are now being refused by this small number cult that believes that inoculations are evil...than heavens for my children's private school where you need a doctors order to skip the shots. I used to despise this gal's singing when on the air...now I tune away because of lack of full reporting.
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  • Jay D wrote...
    But, he's absolutely convinced!
    August 1, 2012 12:36 am
    That's equal to Jenny McCarthy's "mommy instincts" which both trump scientific studies that prove that vaccines are literally safer than eating food (choking hazzard). But don't tell the money hungry suits at Whole Foods that, they're apart of the con$piracy too!!1! It's hard to be pissed off at guys like this who have suffered their own loss but this guy deserves it. Because he's "absolutely conviced" and provided no other evidence to back up his claim he's spewing out false information which could endanger other children. Children die from very preventable diseases and blood is on this guy's hands. I stopped listening to R&D because one of the two (can't remember which one) is an obnoxious loud mouth who constaintly interupts the other and Rachel. All three of them should be ashamed of themselves for giving this guy publicity and as far as I'm concerned, blood is on their hands too.
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  • circuitfr wrote...
    Jay D
    August 1, 2012 7:15 am
    You do know it's a fact people die from Vaccines, correct? That's pure fact. The have a reporting system for adverse reactions. They lobbied congress to where they can be sued for deaths or complications with Vaccines. If they are so safe, why did the drug companies lobby to be exempt from ANY damages that occur? So, you are basically saying, that just because some babies die from vaccines, that's OK, because it's for the "Greater Good." Screw that. Government, nor the drug companies give a rats about anyone. I'll decide whats best for MY family. Go knock on the doors of one of the families that had the "rare" reaction according the Government, and tell them it was worth it for their baby to die.
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  • circuitfr wrote...
    can't be sued
    August 1, 2012 7:15 am
    can= can't be sued.
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  • hawkfan71 wrote...
    Weapons-Grade Stupidity!
    August 1, 2012 5:57 am
    Subject pretty much says it all. This is the kind of dangerous hippy bull***t that causes lots of children to get terrible diseases.
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  • eddiewhite wrote...
    Classic example as to why...
    August 1, 2012 8:58 am
    Ron and Don suck so bad. They put this wacky liberal lady on their show with some bs like this
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