One day, Dr. Tom Patterson was at a hospital in Idaho when he saw that half the newborns were not getting the vitamin K vaccine that babies had been given for decades to prevent potentially fatal bleeding. On another recent day, more than a quarter had not received a shot. Their parents don’t allow it.
“When you see an innocent, vulnerable child who has been denied simple interventions since 1961, knowing that the baby is about to go out into the world is very concerning to me,” said Patterson, who has been a pediatrician for nearly three decades.
Doctors across the country are alarmed that rising anti-science sentiment and suspicion of medical distrust are increasingly extending beyond vaccines into other proven, routine preventive care for infants.
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed more than 5 million births nationwide and found that the number of people who refused vitamin K injections nearly doubled between 2017 and 2024, from 2.9% to 5.2%. Other studies show that parents who refuse vitamin K shots are more likely to refuse hepatitis B vaccines and eye ointments for their newborns to prevent potentially blinding infections. The proportion of children vaccinated at birth has declined in recent years, and doctors confirm that more and more parents are refusing eye medications.
“I do think these families care deeply about their babies,” said Dr. Kelly Wade, a neonatologist in Philadelphia. “But I’m hearing from families that it’s hard to make a decision right now because they’re hearing conflicting information.”
Countless social media posts question doctors’ advice about safe and effective measures like vitamin K and eye ointments. The Trump administration has repeatedly undermined established science. A federal advisory committee appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted to end a long-standing recommendation that all babies be vaccinated against hepatitis B immediately after birth. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a leading anti-vaccine activist before joining the administration. On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked all decisions by the reconstituted commission.
Dr. David Hill, a Seattle pediatrician and researcher, said a common thread linking anti-vaccination views and growing sentiment against other newborn protection measures is the myth that natural is always better than artificial.
“Nature would allow one in five human babies to die in their first year of life, which is why generations of scientists and doctors have worked hard to get that number significantly lower,” Hill said.
Vitamin K and other measures may prevent serious problems
Babies are born with low levels of vitamin K, which makes them vulnerable because their intestines cannot produce enough vitamin K until they start eating solid foods around 6 months of age.
“Vitamin K is important for helping blood clot and preventing dangerous bleeding in babies, such as bleeding in the brain,” said Dr. Kristan Scott of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, lead author of the JAMA study.
Before injections became routine, as many as one in six babies suffered from vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which also affects the gastrointestinal tract. Today, it is rare, but studies show that newborns who are not given vitamin K are 81 times more likely to have severe bleeding than those who are.
Hill has seen what happens.
“I cared for a young child whose parents chose this risk,” the Seattle doctor said. The child suffered a stroke as a newborn and suffered severe developmental delays and ongoing seizures.
At a February meeting of the Idaho chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, doctors said they were aware of eight deaths from vitamin K deficiency bleeding in the state in the past 13 months, said Patterson, president of the Idaho chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Infections prevented by other neonatal measures may also have serious consequences. Erythromycin eye ointment prevents gonorrhea, which is contracted at birth and can cause blindness if left untreated. The hepatitis B vaccine prevents diseases that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer, or cirrhosis.
Even if a pregnant woman is tested for gonorrhea and hepatitis B, no test is perfect and she could become infected after being tested, said Dr. Susan Sirota, a pediatrician in Highland Park, Illinois. Either way, she runs the risk of passing the infection to her child.
Why do parents refuse routine care?
Parents gave many reasons for rejecting preventive measures, such as fear they might cause problems and not wanting their newborn to be in pain.
“Some people will say they want more of a natural birth philosophy,” says Dr. Steven Abelowitz, founder of Ocean Pediatrics in Orange County, California. “There’s also a lot of misinformation … with outside influences, friends, celebrities, lay people and political agendas.”
Abelowitz practices in a district with roughly equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats.
“There’s a lot more distrust on the conservative side, but there’s also a lot of distrust on the liberal side,” he said. “It’s distrust across the board.”
Social media provides ample fuel to spread rumors and promote unregulated vitamin K drops, which doctors warn babies do not absorb well.
Doctors in many states say parents who refuse vitamin K shots often also refuse to take other measures. Sirota, Illinois, encountered a family who refused to use a heel stick to monitor the blood sugar of an infant who was suffering from potentially life-threatening hypoglycemia.
Denial of care is not a new phenomenon. Wade, of Philadelphia, said she has been seeing them for 20 years. But until recently, they were rare.
Twelve years ago, Dana Morrison, now a doula in Minnesota, refused to give her newborn son vitamin K injections, giving him oral drops instead.
“It came from me really wanting to protect bonding time with my kids,” she said. “I’m trying to take away more of the sting.”
A few years later, the birth of her daughter went less smoothly, with the baby’s leg injured. Morrison gave her a vitamin K injection.
She said that had she known what she was doing now, she would have gotten it for her son, too.
Doctors and parents want ‘the best for their children’
Doctors hope to change one parent’s mind at a time. It starts with respect.
“If I walked into the room with judgment, we would be having a very unproductive conversation,” Hill said. “Every parent I serve wants the best for their child.”
When parents question the need for vitamin K injections, Dr. Heather Felton tries to address their specific concerns. She explains why giving it and the risks of not getting it. Felton said most families decided to accept, but there was no increase in rejections.
“It really helps when you take the time to really listen and be able to provide some education,” said Felton, a pediatrician at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.
In Idaho, Patterson sometimes finds himself needing to clear up misunderstandings. For example, some parents agree to inject vitamin K when they find out that it is not a vaccine.
These conversations can take time, especially because the parents doctors see in the hospital are often not people they know through practice.
But doctors are happy to invest the time if the baby can be saved.
“Every discussion I have with parents ends with this: ‘Ultimately please understand that I am passionate about this because I have the best interests of the child in mind and in my heart,'” Patterson said. “I know this is a hot topic and I don’t want to disrespect anyone. But at the same time, I’m very sad that we lost a baby for no reason.”
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