A prominent anti-vaxxer is reversing his stance on a lifesaving injection.
Dr. Joseph Mercola once cautioned parents against administering vitamin K shots, calling it “completely unnecessary for your newborn” — but he’s publicly changing his tune.
“The data is clear: Vitamin K saves lives,” the osteopath conceded on his website.
His about-face comes as doctors across the country are seeing an alarming increase in newborns developing vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), a rare but potentially fatal condition that can cause them to internally bleed to death — but which can be averted with a single vitamin K shot.
Infants are born with very limited stores of vitamin K, as the nutrient is not readily transferred from mother to fetus across the placenta or in breast milk, which contains only small amounts.
This deficiency compromises a baby’s ability to form clots in the first six months of life.
The vitamin K shot has been recommended to all newborns shortly after birth since 1961, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Those who don’t get the shot are 81 times more likely to develop VKDB in their first six months.
The condition can result in symptoms like significant hemorrhaging of the brain and gut, unexplained bruising, seizures, vomiting blood, blood in stool, brain damage and even death.
“A lot of babies with severe brain bleeds can have significant issues such as cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, if it’s mild or death in the worst-case scenarios,” Dr. Candice Foy, a pediatrician and medical director of the newborn nursery at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, previously told The Post.
Mercola shocked some of his followers when he spoke out in favor of the shots.
“The science has moved decisively, and my position has changed with it. When the data changes, informed positions change too,” he wrote.
“Vitamin K deficiency bleeding is rare, but when it occurs, the consequences can be devastating and irreversible. A single injection at birth can prevent it. Please talk to your doctor,” he added, echoing what doctors have long emphasized.
In Mercola’s earlier posts, he erroneously claimed that the amount of vitamin K injected into newborns far exceeded the necessary dose and contained preservatives that were potentially “toxic” to an infant’s immune system.
His additional reasons for denouncing vitamin K include a 1992 study that reported a possible link between vitamin K and childhood leukemia.
However, several studies have shown no connections.
Mercola is a well-known alternative wellness advocate who has been outspoken in his criticism of medical treatments, including vaccines. During the pandemic, he was issued a warning letter by the FDA for selling unapproved and misbranded products, including vitamin C, on his website, touting them as alternative ways to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Despite the life-saving benefits of the vitamin K shot and decades of research demonstrating its safety and efficacy, parents continue to decline it, either due to medical misinformation that the injection is a vaccine or to growing distrust in healthcare systems.
Indeed, a study published this year analyzed more than 5 million health records between 2017 and 2024 and found that 5.2% of newborns, almost 200,000, did not receive a vitamin K injection, a 77% increase in infants not receiving the shot during that period.
While the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) still officially recommends vitamin K shots for all infants, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has publicly refused to acknowledge their necessity.
Critics argue that RFK Jr.’s vocal anti-vaccine rhetoric has made people mistrustful about medicine, something critics call the “RFK Jr. Spillover Effect” that is driving skepticism and parental aversion to vitamin K and other shots.
Speaking to ProPublica, an HHS spokesperson said vitamin K shots have declined “as public trust in health care institutions has fallen, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic amid heavy-handed mandates and inconsistent messaging during the Biden administration.”
“Rebuilding that trust requires honesty, informed consent, and respect for individual choice,” they said.
