Babies in the United States have died from vitamin K deficiency bleeding after parents declined the vitamin K shot given at birth. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to reassure parents that the vitamin K shot is safe and said, "I’ve never said, literally never said, anything about it," at a House subcommittee hearing two weeks ago.
Kim Schrier Hearing
Rep. Kim Schrier pressed Kennedy Jr. at that hearing to address the shot directly. The exchange centered on a single, inexpensive injection newborns receive to help their blood clot, and on whether public doubt is keeping some families from accepting it.
The deaths were caused, in whole or in part, by vitamin K deficiency bleeding, according to the facts available here. That condition can appear after parents decline the shot, and the cases include a 7-week-old boy and an 11-pound girl.
Vitamin K Shot Refusals
Families across the country are declining the shot out of concern about unnecessary medical intervention and false information on social media. Leading American institutions and the World Health Organization recommend that newborns get the vitamin K shot, but the refusal trend has spread alongside falling use of other childhood vaccines.
The shot has been swept up in the post-pandemic drop in key childhood vaccines, including measles and whooping cough vaccines. In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending that all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine, and in March a federal judge temporarily blocked the revised childhood vaccination schedule that included that recommendation.
Newborn Hospital Care
The vitamin K shot is one of three main interventions newborns typically receive before leaving the hospital, along with the hepatitis B vaccine and antibiotic eye ointment. Some families are also rejecting that eye ointment, which leaves hospital staff dealing with refusals across more than one routine newborn treatment.
Over the last several years, autopsies of several babies concluded that their deaths were caused, in whole or in part, by vitamin K deficiency bleeding. For parents of newborns, the immediate step is to accept the vitamin K shot at birth unless a clinician has discussed a specific medical reason not to do so.
