Vitamin K Shots: Newborn Refusals Rose 77% From 2017 to 2024
More newborns are going without a vitamin K shot, and reports describe a rise in babies suffering severe bleeding linked to the deficiency it prevents.
More newborns are going without a vitamin K shot, and reports describe a rise in babies suffering severe bleeding linked to the deficiency it prevents. A national study covering more than 5 million births found that 5% of infants did not receive the shot at birth in 2024, a 77% increase from 2017.
The findings put a routine newborn intervention under renewed scrutiny as doctors report preventable deaths and serious brain injuries from vitamin K deficiency bleeding, or VKDB. The research establishes a rise in refusals; separate medical-record and autopsy reviews document fatal cases across several U.S. states.
Why newborns receive the shot
Vitamin K helps the body make clotting factors, which reduce the risk of serious bleeding. Newborns have limited stores of the vitamin, making them vulnerable to VKDB. A single injection given at birth can prevent the condition, according to the medical information in the reports.
Some families are declining it. The reasons reported include vaccine skepticism and fears about safety, with health advocates arguing that confusion around vaccines has spread to the vitamin K injection. The material does not identify a single reason shared by all parents who refuse it.
Deaths and severe cases reported
Medical records and autopsy findings reviewed in a separate investigation tied infant deaths in Maryland, Alabama, Texas and Kentucky to vitamin K deficiency bleeding. The cases included babies who developed sudden seizures, stopped breathing, became lethargic or bled around the umbilical area.
Some hospital systems have also recorded sharp increases in refusals. At one Idaho facility, one in five families opted out of the shot, while refusal rates across the system more than doubled since the start of the pandemic.
Those numbers are not evidence that every refusal leads to illness. But they show why pediatricians are concerned: VKDB can emerge after an apparently healthy start, with little warning before a baby becomes critically ill.
Questions for a clinician
Parents weighing the injection can ask their health-care provider how vitamin K protects against bleeding, what risks come with declining it, and what signs of VKDB require urgent attention. The reports do not detail a standard set of questions, but they underscore the importance of discussing the decision with a clinician rather than relying on vaccine fears alone.
In the national study, the share of newborns who missed the shot reached 5% in 2024.
