Infants Are Bleeding to Death After Parents Shun Routine Vitamin K Shots
A national study found more than 5% of U.S. newborns missed the shot in 2024 as hospitals reported more bleeding cases.
- Parents are increasingly declining the standard vitamin K injection for newborns, triggering a surge in severe and sometimes fatal infant bleeding cases across the U.S.
- Misinformation on social media and post-pandemic skepticism are driving these refusals, as families reject the preventive shot despite decades of proven safety evidence.
- Research shows infants without the injection are 81 times more likely to develop late-onset bleeding, a condition the CDC says kills one in five affected babies.
- Dr. Robert Sidonio, a pediatric hematologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, urges officials to make vitamin K deficiency a reportable condition to document the danger.
- Federal and state agencies currently lack systematic tracking systems for refusals, preventing experts from effectively identifying and preventing these deaths.
17 Articles
17 Articles
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Newborns in the United States are dying from a condition that has been almost entirely preventable since 1961. Babies are born with very low levels of vitamin K, a nutrient the body needs for blood to clot. Without a simple shot given right after birth, they are at serious risk of internal bleeding, including in the brain. The shot has worked so well for decades that most people forgot it even existed. Now, more and more parents are refusing it,…
Alarming Number of Babies in U.S. Are Reportedly Dying — Doctors Say One Parenting Decision May Be to Blame
Babies across the U.S. are dying from preventable Vitamin K deficiency bleeding as parental refusal of the birth shot climbs 77%, alarming pediatricians and researchers nationwide.
Babies are bleeding to death as parents reject vitamin shot given at birth
They entered the world the way babies should, with piercing cries announcing their arrival. They passed their newborn screening tests. Some made it to their 2-week wellness visits without concern. Then, without warning, their systems began to shut down. A 7-week-old boy in Maryland developed sudden seizures. An 11-pound girl in Alabama stopped breathing for 20 seconds at a time. A baby boy in Kentucky vomited before becoming lethargic. A brown-h…
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