The Chonkerton

Vitamin K shots stop internal bleeding in newborns. So why are some parents refusing them?

health

Vitamin K shots given at birth protect newborns from dangerous internal bleeding, but The Conversation reports that fewer Australian parents are choosing them. In Queensland, the share of babies vaccinated with the shot slipped from over ninety-eight percent in twenty sixteen to about ninety-five and a half percent last year, meaning more than twenty-five hundred babies went without. Tasmania saw a similar dip, and no other state publishes the numbers, so the national picture is unclear. The condition itself is rare, but past cases show it can be fatal, particularly when the injection is refused around a home birth.

Source: https://theconversation.com/vitamin-k-shots-stop-internal...

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton