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Doctors report a rise in life-threatening bleeding in babies as more parents refuse vitamin K shots at birth
Experts link the trend to growing vaccine skepticism, despite vitamin K shots not being vaccines
A national study found vitamin K refusal rates increased 77% from 2017 to 2024, raising concerns among medical professionals
Doctors are expressing concerns that more babies are suffering life-threatening bleeding as parents refuse basic injections for their newborns.
In a new report, published May 6, ProPublica reviewed hundreds of medical and autopsy records across the U.S. that show a recent string of infant deaths attributed to vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Speaking to more than 30 doctors, the publication uncovered an alarming trend of parents not allowing their babies to receive vitamin K shots at birth.
Vitamin K is necessary for blood to clot normally. Because babies are born with small amounts in their bodies, a single vitamin K shot at birth protects them from developing dangerous bleeding that can lead to brain damage and even death, according to the CDC. Without a vitamin K shot, babies can develop vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), a condition where infants are at risk of bleeding into their intestines and brain.
The CDC states that the risk of developing severe bleeding is 81 times higher for babies who are not given the shot. Additionally, 1 in every 5 babies with vitamin K deficiency bleeding will die.
Although the vitamin K shots are not vaccines, they have been swept up in the growing vaccine skepticism that began following the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a drop in childhood vaccinations like measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis B.
In 2024, more than 700 newborns died from spontaneous bleeding in their brains, and six medical specialists and one CDC official said a significant number were likely caused by vitamin K deficiency, ProPublica reports.
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Doctors at Mercy Hospital — which runs birthing centers in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas — told the outlet that they started noticing more parents turning down vitamin K shots during the pandemic. In 2025, there were 1,552 babies across all Mercy hospitals who turned down the injection, compared to 536 in 2021.
Additionally, St. Luke’s Health System — Idaho’s largest hospital system — reported that refusal rates have increased every year, and even doubled in some cases. Hospital officials confirmed that at least two babies treated at St. Luke’s died within the last year from complications related to vitamin K deficiency bleeding, according to the report.
A national study, published in December in JAMA, analyzed more than 5 million births and found that the rate of U.S. babies not receiving vitamin K at birth reached 5% in 2024 — a 77% increase from 2017.
Infant in the hospital
Credit: Getty
Experts say that the trend is concerning because due to the longtime success of the vitamin K shot, VKDB was nearly eliminated.
“This was not something we even bothered to spend much educational effort on because there was this simple, safe intervention,” Dr. Allison Henry, director of newborn medicine service at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s in Los Angeles, told ProPublica.
“We’re a victim of our own success,” added Dr. Ivan Hand, director of neonatology at Kings County Hospital Center in New York and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Since we’ve been treating babies with vitamin K, we haven’t seen much deficiency bleeding, so people think it doesn’t exist.”
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Last month, Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) spoke to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and expressed concerns about the number of parents refusing vitamin K injections. She claimed that the trend is a result of him fostering an atmosphere of distrust around physicians and vaccinations, and asked him to publicly encourage parents to give their newborns vitamin K shots.
“I’ve literally never said anything about it,” Kennedy said during a House hearing on April 21.
“That’s exactly the point,” Schrier, who is also a pediatrician, replied. “You don’t say anything about it, but the doubt you’ve created about all of medicine and science is causing parents to make dangerous decisions.”
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