A growing number of parents are refusing vitamin K shots for their newborn babies, federal data shows, which Long Island doctors said is leaving more infants vulnerable to a rare but life-threatening bleeding disorder.
An analysis of 5 million newborns revealed that the number of babies who did not receive the shot increased 77% from about 2.9% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2024, according to a National Institutes of Health study released last month.
Doctors on Long Island said they are seeing the ramifications in their hospitals, sometimes with serious consequences.
Over the last two years, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital has had to hospitalize at least five children who had not received the vitamin K dose, said Dr. Candice Foy, a pediatrician and medical director of the newborn nursery at the hospital.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDThe number of parents refusing vitamin K shots for their newborns has increased, according to a national study.Experts said newborns need a dose of vitamin K after they are born to help their blood clot and prevent a rare but potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder.As mistrust of the medical field has grown in recent years and social media provides a flood of misinformation, doctors worry it is causing parents to question even routine treatments.
“This year, there were more refusers than I had ever seen,” she said. “We are seeing the repercussions.”
Dr. Heather Levin, an obstetrician/gynecologist who specializes in maternal fetal medicine at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, said she has also seen “the rates of refusal” increase over the last few years. She said parents are getting information from social media and questioning standard practices.
“We want to have those conversations with them and for people to make informed choices, but there is also a lot of misinformation out there,” Levin said.
Though giving a shot of vitamin K — which is not a vaccine — has been a routine procedure at birth for decades, both doctors and vaccine skeptics attributed the drop to growing distrust with established medical practices and health policies.
“I think the decline in vitamin K uptake and the growth in the number of people skeptical of claims made about vaccine safety are symptoms of the same issue: plummeting confidence in the truthfulness and accuracy of what we are told by health authorities,” John Gilmore, of Long Beach, who heads the Autism Action Network and is a vocal critic of vaccine policies, told Newsday in an email. He pointed to COVID-19 guidance and the prescription opioid epidemic in particular as turning points.
Medical associations and prominent physician groups have been alarmed by guidance coming out of the federal government and Trump administration regarding vaccine use, despite decades of evidence about their safety and efficacy.
Babies are born deficient of vitamin K, which helps blood clot. This means a small bruise or cut can lead to abnormal bleeding, according to the NIH. Doctors are most concerned about a rare but deadly condition known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding, or VKDB.
“They use up whatever clotting factors they were born with pretty quickly to heal after birth,” Foy said. “Then they need something else.”
Infants who develop VKDB can experience the bleeding internally and on the brain, which can lead to permanent damage.
“The biggest fear, medically, is spontaneous intracranial hemorrhaging,” Levin said. “And I don’t know if anybody knows why they happen, but vitamin K deficiency is associated with them. This is where you can see prevention of morbidity and mortality for newborns.”
Children receive the dose shortly after birth, as part of a regimen that includes other procedures, like putting an antibiotic ointment on the child’s eyes to prevent infection. It’s been routinely administered since 1961, when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also recommends the shot.
There’s no way to accurately diagnose VKDB at birth, so doctors give the shot preventively, said Dr. Erika Banks, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at NYU Langone — Long Island. “If they are the unlucky few that have it, they are at risk for life-threatening bleeding into the brain and the bowel.”
“We give it to all babies because it’s just a vitamin,” Banks said. “It doesn’t do any harm.”
While there is an oral dose available, injection is the most effective way to get vitamin K into a newborn, doctors said, since they don’t absorb it well at that age. Once they are old enough to eat solid foods, they can get vitamin K naturally through leafy vegetables and other sources.
New York State requires infants to get the vitamin K shot at birth but does not track administration or refusals, state health officials said Thursday. Some hospitals require parents who refuse the treatment to sign a consent form after having a consultation with a doctor.
“People are pushing back with interventions in general and vitamin K, unfortunately, is one of them,” Foy said. “And I think people are getting trapped to different algorithms on social media and not seeing both sides.”
A 1992 study out of England that looked at 195 children with cancer and 558 without suggested a link between vitamin K shots given to newborns and an increased risk of leukemia. Numerous follow-up studies concluded otherwise, including one from United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study Investigators, that looked at 2,530 children diagnosed with cancer and 4,487 without.
“There is no convincing evidence that neonatal vitamin K administration, irrespective of the route by which it is given, influences the risk of children developing leukemia or any other cancer,” the authors wrote.
“I think that questioning is an excellent thing,” Banks said, “We never mind being questioned. I think what is concerning is a rising lack of trust of medical expertise on this because these practices save babies’ and mothers’ lives.”
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
