Newborns in the United States are dying from a condition that has been almost entirely preventable since 1961. Babies are born with very low levels of vitamin K, a nutrient the body needs for blood to clot. Without a simple shot given right after birth, they are at serious risk of internal bleeding, including in the brain. The shot has worked so well for decades that most people forgot it even existed. Now, more and more parents are refusing it, and doctors are watching babies die.
At a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, a pediatrician from Washington state, pressed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to simply tell parents the vitamin K shot is safe.
