2026-09-01T10:02:36.738Z / 路透社
芝加哥9月1日路透电 – 路透社独家数据分析显示，今年美国父母和看护者拒绝为新生儿注射标准维生素K针剂的比例大幅攀升，令更多新生儿面临致命出血风险。
数据证实了十余名儿科医生、新生儿科医生和儿科重症监护专家向路透社指出的首要担忧：保护生命的维生素K注射遭到越来越多的拒绝，公众对疫苗及其他新生儿干预措施的不信任感日益加剧。
数十年来，卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪一直在煽动这种不信任情绪，散布对疫苗和其他成熟药物的质疑。今年维生素K注射拒绝率的上升，与他今年1月宣布将乙肝疫苗及其他五种标准儿童疫苗的出生剂量从常规接种名单中移除的举措恰好重合。
健康数据与分析公司特鲁维塔（Truveta）对全美超过100万例分娩的医疗记录进行审查后发现，今年1月至6月期间，医院内新生儿出生后24小时内未注射维生素K针剂的比例飙升逾57%。
尽管维生素K注射拒绝率多年来一直在上升，但特鲁维塔的分析显示，2026年上半年未接种率较2019年至2024年的平均水平高出1.5倍，较2025年高出1.4倍。
美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）指出，婴儿出生时体内维生素K水平极低，而维生素K有助于血液凝固，婴儿在约6个月大之前都无法自行产生足够的维生素K，该机构仍推荐注射该针剂。疾控中心表示，若不注射该针剂，婴儿在出生后头6个月内发生脑部或肠道致命出血的风险将增加81倍。
每5名出现严重出血的婴儿中就有1名会死亡。若不注射维生素K针剂，每59例分娩中就会有1例出现此类出血情况。
“这真的令人恐惧，仿佛我们在倒退，”芝加哥卢里儿童医院的儿科医师科学家尼亚·赫德-加里斯博士谈及日益增多的拒绝注射现象时说道，“我们一直在竭尽全力挽救小婴儿的生命。”
特朗普政府的相关言论
像赫德-加里斯这样的儿科医生正奋战在一线，一边照料患儿，一边应对美国卫生政策向肯尼迪和唐纳德·特朗普总统的观点靠拢的变化——这些观点往往与医学界相悖。
肯尼迪取消六种儿童疫苗的推荐接种时曾表示，美国儿童接种的疫苗过多，并暗示疫苗与慢性病存在关联，但这一说法并无任何证据支持。
由于一项法院裁决，这些政策调整目前处于搁置状态，但特朗普在8月10日的一项行政命令中再次呼吁推行这些政策。专家表示，这些相互矛盾的信息让许多家长对包括维生素K注射在内的常规新生儿治疗措施产生了疑虑。
在4月的国会听证会上被问及相关政策导致维生素K注射支持率下降时，肯尼迪否认自己对此负有任何责任。
美国卫生与公众服务部发言人格蕾丝·戴维斯·贾米森表示，该机构和疾控中心正在评估与维生素K注射拒绝率及相关出血事件相关的现有数据和监测信息。她表示，该机构仍在向父母和医疗服务提供者提供有关维生素K的信息。
“对维生素K的担忧以及对公共卫生机构的信任危机早在本届政府上台前就已存在，并在拜登政府时期的强制防疫政策期间加剧，”她补充道，该机构正致力于重建信任，包括尊重个人选择。
问题日益严峻
特鲁维塔的研究审查了超过1400万人的医疗记录，结果显示，截至6月底，美国新生儿出生时未接受维生素K注射的比例从六个月前的5.2%攀升至8.1%。该研究涵盖了2019年1月至2026年6月期间825599名母亲所生的1026375名婴儿。
阿曼达·弗尔博士是扎尔米纳利儿科的首席医疗官，该机构在13个州运营着45家儿科诊所，她在印第安纳州罗克维尔的一家诊所坐诊，该镇共有2600名居民。
2026年8月6日，美国密歇根州安阿伯的一家儿科诊所展示了合成维生素K即甲萘醌的示例照片。路透社/艾米丽·埃尔科宁 摄
弗尔表示，医院内拒绝维生素K注射的情况已变得极为普遍，以至于扎尔米纳利已开始在所有初级保健诊所储备该针剂。另外两名医生告诉路透社，他们现在也会提供该针剂注射服务。
麻烦的早期征兆
2013年，当萨拉·科金斯还是范德比尔特儿童医院的医学生时，纳什维尔曾出现过一批因维生素K缺乏而严重出血的罕见病例群。
根据疾控中心发布的一份报告，这些婴儿的父母认为该针剂不必要，甚至可能有毒或致癌。科金斯当时照料过其中一名患儿。
“这名婴儿留下了永久性脑损伤，”现为费城儿童医院新生儿科医生的科金斯说道，“这件事我一直记在心里。我想大多数儿科医生都有过类似的经历。”
此前的一项全国性研究显示，维生素K注射拒绝率随后开始上升。
科金斯正在自己的诊所中对抗公众对该针剂的不信任，该诊所要求拒绝注射的家长签署一份文件，表明他们已了解相关风险。
不过，她和其他医生注意到一个现象：反对疫苗注射的家长中，有很多人希望为男婴进行包皮环切术。许多医院禁止未注射维生素K的男婴接受包皮环切术，因为该手术存在出血风险。
科金斯及其同事对费城宾夕法尼亚大学医疗系统下属三家医院的医疗记录进行了研究，结果发现女婴拒绝维生素K注射的风险是男婴的两倍。
特鲁维塔的全国性分析证实了这一发现，表明维生素K注射拒绝率上升对女婴的影响不成比例。2026年6月，8.9%的女婴和7.3%的男婴在出生后24小时内未接受该针剂注射。
这引发了一个疑问：维生素K缺乏及相关出血事件是否会开始影响更多女婴。
“这不是理论上的风险，这让我夜不能寐，”科金斯说道，她正与同事合作设计一项研究来解答这个问题。
采取强硬立场
几名儿科医生表示，为男婴进行包皮环切术的意愿往往会超过家长对疫苗的顾虑。
美国约有一半的男婴在医院接受包皮环切术。
“我们有一条绝对的硬规定：不打维生素K针，就不做包皮环切术，”新墨西哥州法明顿市圣胡安健康合作儿科的布拉德·斯科金斯博士说道。
斯科金斯同意科金斯等人的研究结论，即维生素K注射拒绝率上升与家长对其他关键新生儿干预措施的排斥有关，包括乙肝疫苗和通常必不可少的抗生素眼药膏。
“这些都被归为了同一类问题，”他说道。
朱莉·斯廷休森 芝加哥报道；卡罗琳·胡默、比尔·伯克罗特 编辑
US refusals of crucial newborn vitamin spike, raising risk of dangerous bleeding
2026-09-01T10:02:36.738Z / Reuters
CHICAGO, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The percentage of parents and caregivers in the United States refusing a standard vitamin K shot for infants at birth has accelerated sharply this year, an exclusive data analysis for Reuters found, putting more newborns at risk of life-threatening bleeding episodes.
The data confirms what a dozen pediatricians, neonatologists and pediatric critical care specialists told Reuters is a top concern: rising refusals of a life-protective shot and a growing wave of mistrust toward vaccines and other newborn interventions.
For decades, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stoked that mistrust, sowing doubt about vaccines and other established medicines. The acceleration in vitamin K refusals this year aligns with his January announcement dropping recommendations for the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, and five other standard childhood vaccines, from routine use.
The rate of newborns not receiving the vitamin K shot within a day of birth in hospitals jumped more than 57% from January through June, a review of health records for more than 1 million births nationwide by health data and analytics company Truveta revealed.
While vitamin K refusals have been on the rise for years, the Truveta analysis shows that in the first half of 2026, the rate of non-receipt was 2.5 times higher than the average rate from 2019 to 2024. It was 1.4 times higher than in 2025.
Babies are born with very low levels of vitamin K, which helps blood to clot, and are unprotected up until about six months of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which still recommends the shot. Without the injection, they are 81 times more likely in those first six months to have life-threatening bleeding in the brain or gut, the CDC says.
One out of five infants who experience serious bleeding will die. Without the shot, such bleeding occurs in one out of 59 births.
“It’s really terrifying. It’s like we’re going backwards,” Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, pediatric physician scientist at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, said of growing refusals. “We’re trying really hard to keep little babies alive.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MESSAGES
Pediatricians like Heard-Garris are on the frontlines, caring for children as parents digest changes in U.S. health policy to align with Kennedy’s and President Donald Trump’s views, which are often at odds with the medical community.
When Kennedy dropped recommendations for the six childhood vaccines, he said American children got too many shots and suggested they were linked to chronic illness, for which there is no evidence.
Those changes are on hold due to a court ruling, but Trump called for them again in an August 10 executive order. Experts say the mixed messages have raised doubts among many parents about routine newborn treatments, including vitamin K.
When asked about declining support for vitamin K relative to those policies in an April Congressional hearing, Kennedy denied any role.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Grace Davis Jamison said the agency and the CDC are evaluating available data and surveillance related to vitamin K refusal and associated bleeding events. It continues to provide parents and health care providers with information about vitamin K, she said.
“Concerns about vitamin K and declining trust in public health institutions predate this administration and grew during the COVID-19 pandemic amid heavy-handed mandates during the Biden administration,” she said, adding that the agency is working to rebuild trust including through respect for individual choice.
GROWING PROBLEM
The percentage of U.S. infants not receiving vitamin K at birth climbed to 8.1% at the end of June, from 5.2% six months earlier, according to the Truveta study, which reviewed health records from more than 140 million people. It identified 1,026,375 infants born to 825,599 mothers between January 2019 and June 2026.
Dr. Amanda Furr, chief medical officer of Zarminali Pediatrics, which operates 45 pediatric practices in 13 states, sees patients at a clinic in Rockville, Indiana, a town of 2,600 residents.
An illustration photo shows Phytonadione, a synthetic version of vitamin K, at a pediatrics clinic in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S., August 6, 2026. REUTERS/Emily Elconin
Vitamin K refusals in hospitals have become so common that Zarminali has started stocking the shot in all primary care practices, Furr said. Two other doctors told Reuters they were also now providing the shots.
EARLY SIGN OF TROUBLE
When Dr. Sarah Coggins was a medical student at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in 2013, Nashville experienced an unusual cluster of babies with severe bleeding from vitamin K deficiency.
Their parents believed the shot was unnecessary, and potentially toxic or carcinogenic, according to an account published by the CDC. Coggins cared for one of these infants.
“The baby had long-term brain damage,” said Coggins, now a neonatologist with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “I’ve always carried that with me. I think most pediatricians have a story like that.”
Vitamin K refusals soon began to rise, a previous nationwide study showed.
Coggins is fighting mistrust of the shot in her own practice, which requires parents who refuse to sign a form saying they understand the risks.
She and others have noticed a difference, however, in parents who oppose the shots but want their boy babies circumcised. Many hospitals prohibit circumcision in boys who have not received vitamin K because of the bleeding risk of such procedures.
Coggins and colleagues studied medical records at three hospitals affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania health system in Philadelphia and found being born a girl was associated with twice the risk of vitamin K refusal.
Truveta’s national analysis confirms that finding, showing that baby girls are disproportionately impacted by the rising rates of vitamin K refusals. In June of 2026, 8.9% of girls and 7.3% of boys had not received the shot within a day of birth.
That raises the question of whether vitamin K deficiency —and bleeding events — will start to affect more girl babies.
“It’s not a theoretical risk. It keeps me up at night,” said Coggins, who is working with colleagues to design a study to answer that question.
TAKING A HARD LINE
The desire to have male children circumcised often overrides parents’ concerns, several pediatricians said.
About half of U.S. boys are circumcised in hospitals.
“We have an absolute hard line: no vitamin K, no circumcision,” said Dr. Brad Scoggins of San Juan Health Partners’ Pediatrics in Farmington, New Mexico.
Scoggins agrees with studies by Coggins and others linking increasing vitamin K refusals with rejection of other key newborn interventions, including the hepatitis B vaccine and an often important antibiotic eye ointment.
“That just gets put in the same bucket,” he said.
Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot