“There has been a significant uptick for me .,” said Patterson, the Idaho pediatrician.
Rates of life-threatening bleeding in U.S. infants have surged since 2017 as parents increasingly decline recommended newborn vitamin K shots, driven by growing mistrust toward medical professionals and social media misinformation.
Vitamin K Refusal Rates and Bleeding Cases Rose Significantly
A pair of studies published in JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics analyzed millions of U.S. births and documented the sweeping consequences of the trend. The research revealed that the percentage of newborns who did not receive the vitamin K injection climbed from 3.1 percent in 2017 to 6.8 percent in 2025, according to a study examining 5.2 million infants.
A separate study encompassing 11 million infants found that the national rate of diagnosed vitamin K-deficient bleeding rose 347 percent between 2017 and 2025, jumping from 24 cases per 100,000 infants to 107.4 per 100,000. Truveta data further indicated that refusals accelerated sharply in the first half of 2026, rising by more than 57 percent from January through June.
“This is certainly evidence that more babies are not receiving vitamin K, and more babies are at risk of bleeding,” said Dr. Kristan Scott, lead author of the study.
The refusal of vitamin K has grown alongside an erosion of trust in doctors and public health professionals, a trend that accelerated around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some parents have mistakenly associated all shots with routine immunizations, developing an unfounded fear of needles, while others rely on social media influencers promoting unverified alternatives.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends newborns receive the vitamin K shot within six hours of birth to protect against vitamin K deficiency bleeding, though the agency declined to comment on whether it would begin tracking refusal rates.
Some parents turn to oral vitamin K drops as an alternative, despite warnings from pediatricians that oral formulations are not nearly as effective as intramuscular injections and are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The risks of refusal were highlighted in an August 2023 case involving an 11-day-old Texas girl named Gwen Biesenbach. After her umbilical cord stump bled continuously, her parents brought her to Lonestar 24HR ER, a freestanding emergency room in New Braunfels about a mile from their home. Having declined the birth injection, they had administered oral drops instead. The facility lacked vitamin K injections on site.
The treating physician, Dr. Nicole Malouf, attempted to stop the bleeding by applying silver nitrate with long matchlike sticks inside the infant’s belly button. Following hours of unstopped bleeding and a drop in blood pressure during transport by ambulance, the baby was transferred to North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, where she passed away the following morning.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death was vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Following a hearing in September 2025, the Texas Medical Board disciplined Malouf, finding she failed to recognize a life-threatening vitamin K-dependent bleeding disorder, failed to quantify blood loss, and failed to immediately transfer the child to a regional pediatric hospital.
Infants Face Higher Bleeding Risks Without Vitamin K Injections
Newborns naturally possess very low levels of vitamin K because of poor placental transfer, low content in breast milk, and inefficient gastrointestinal absorption. Without an intramuscular injection—a standard practice established in 1961—infants face a 47 percent higher adjusted risk of bleeding in their first six months of life.
“What we’re really worried about is serious life-threatening bleeding … And often, by the time we figure out that bleeding is happening, it’s really too late to stop the worst consequences of it,” said Dr. David Hill, a hospitalist.
Infants who missed the shot also faced more than twice the risk of intracranial or intracerebral hemorrhage, a complication that can cause seizures, permanent brain damage, or death. Researchers said that the risk of death during the birth hospitalization with a concurrent bleeding diagnosis was nearly three times higher among infants who did not receive the injection.
“Similar to the recent measles outbreaks, we are seeing the real-world implications of growing mistrust of doctors and public health professionals,” said Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Richmond.
Clinical experts note that parents who previously declined the injection or are uncertain whether their newborn received it can consult qualified pediatricians or healthcare professionals during early well-baby visits to discuss catch-up options and obtain professional guidance.
“We knew from prior studies that vitamin K refusal had been increasing in the U.S., and we wanted to learn if there were any real-life consequences of this trend,” Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Richmond, said.
