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    18 Kommentare

    1. Newborns who are unable to receive a vitamin K shot are 81 times more likely to develop severe, often uncontrollable bleeding. Babies have been found with dead brain tissue similar to what follows cancer; the kind of bleeding seen after a stroke.

      Yet, driven by misinformation, more and more parents are refusing this lifesaving injection for their children, doctors say. Although it is not a vaccine, the vitamin K shot has become collateral damage of the anti-vaccine movement.

      The CDC doesn’t track how many parents reject vitamin K shots. But a recent study of more than 5 million births found that in 2024, over 5% of babies in the U.S. did not receive the injection — up 77% from 2017.

      Experts also estimate the death toll from babies not receiving vitamin K shots may be greater than reported. More than 700 newborns died from spontaneous bleeding in their brains in 2024, known to be a common result of vitamin K deficiency.

      We contacted 55 hospitals and birthing centers and talked to more than 30 doctors. At Idaho’s largest hospital system, hospital officials shared that refusal rates rose from 3.8% in 2020 to 9.8% in 2025. At one hospital, the rate even reached 20%.

      “We’re a victim of our own success,” a director of neonatology at New York’s Kings County Hospital Center told us. “Since we’ve been treating babies with vitamin K, we haven’t seen much deficiency bleeding, so people think it doesn’t exist.”

      **Read our full investigation:** [https://www.propublica.org/article/more-parents-decline-vitamin-k-shot-newborns](https://www.propublica.org/article/more-parents-decline-vitamin-k-shot-newborns)

    2. SunflaresAteMyLunch on

      Compassion for the conned, despisement and scorn for the conmen. But still, people thinking they can google themselves to an MD is so unbelievably arrogant.

    3. ADarwinAward on

      This is child neglect and should be criminal.

      I’m sure people will say I’m calloused, but ignorance is no excuse to kill your baby. Those babies have a right to live and CPS should be involved in cases like this. CPS should have medical custody in cases where parents are too foolish to keep their baby alive.

    4. These shots should be mandatory for every newborn, no parental consent needed.

    5. So what happens if a baby dies as a result of a vitamin K deficiency? Are the parents who refused the vitamin K shot prosecuted?

    6. My cousin died from this before it was known that Vitamin K should be given to all newborns.

    7. Feather_Sigil on

      Vaccination and vitamin shots shouldn’t be a choice. But until we as a species put our adult pants on and make that a reality…

      TRUST THE DOCTORS

    8. clover_heron on

      How can you talk about clusters without talking about genetics? If these deaths are primarily or solely occurring in insular or closed groups then this is not a shot-hesitancy problem. Maybe consider this as an opportunity to better educate?

    9. mhurchinson on

      You’ll need to explain why babies would spontaneously bleed without vitamin K.
      This clotting agent isn’t without cost.

    10. MarsNeedsRabbits on

      For once, something that vitamins can prevent, and they don’t want it. They love treating with vitamins, but not this time.

    11. FanBehaviour2011 on

      This is natural consequences at work and I don’t see why we would try to force their hand. Let them make their choices and let them reap what they sow

    12. Our government health authorities infantilized us for years. THEY have created the mistrust.

      Parents SHOULD get the K shot.

      But until health authorities are transparent the mistrust will continue.

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