The Trump administration’s remaking of childhood vaccination policies is fueling resistance in labor and delivery wards, where doctors say parents are increasingly hesitant to allow other routine care for new babies due to a growing distrust of medicine, Reuters reports.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has rolled back decades-old guidance for routine childhood vaccination against six infectious diseases including influenza and hepatitis B, saying their use should instead be decided between parents and healthcare providers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which had recommended that all children be vaccinated against 17 diseases, in January gave a broad endorsement to only 11 immunizations. Routine immunization to protect against diseases including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, influenza, and meningococcal disease was dropped from the CDC’s universal recommendation.
This has created “pure confusion” for parents, Reuters writes, heightening distrust of the medical community. More than half a dozen pediatricians in six states said they are spending more time talking to parents about standard treatments given to newborns, including routine interventions such as administering vitamin K to prevent dangerous bleeding and a topical antibiotic that protects against eye infections.
“We have declines and resistance when it comes to any intervention,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Conflicting information from social media, mom groups, or people who are publishing things because of one experience here or there is really hard for parents to sort through,” said Dr. Katharine Clouser, a pediatrician at Hackensack Meridian Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in New Jersey.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it “rejects” the premise that vaccine policy has had any impact on the use of such newborn treatments.
In 2024, over 5% of newborns were not given vitamin K, which has been recommended since 1961, up from less than 3% in 2017, according to a recent study. It attributed the decline to a lack of understanding about the need for the injection and concerns about pain and side effects—issues underpinned by mistrust that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Babies aren’t born with enough vitamin K, which helps with blood clotting… it is used up in pregnancy and it doesn’t cross the placenta very well,” Clouser said.
“So as long as your baby has zero injuries in the first three months, six months of life, you’re good, even if you don’t get the vitamin K shot,” said Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious diseases doctor at University of Chicago Medicine. “However, if something happens and your baby has some sort of injury… then they die because of bleeding and blood loss.”
Doctors said more parents are also declining erythromycin eye ointment that is routinely applied to newborns to prevent a potentially blinding eye infection caused by sexually transmitted bacteria such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. The potential infections could be passed on from the mother. The treatment is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the CDC, the AAP, and other medical organizations.
“Some parents believe the risk of infection is too low to warrant its use,” said Dr. Elizabeth Mack, a pediatric critical care physician in Charleston, South Carolina. “They don’t trust us.” Some resistant parents can be convinced that the antibiotic is necessary, but she has to be careful citing studies because “the word study is scary now,” the pediatrician said.