Articles tagged with "vkdb"

In the beginning of May, media outlets were reporting some very alarming news: more newborns were dying from bleeding, often internal. The suspected cause, however, wasn't birth trauma, Covid, infection, or a tragic uptick in infanticide. Instead, it was due to Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB), formerly haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Fortunately, it is preventable via an injection of synthetic vitamin K called Phytomenadione (or by its brand name, Konakion). The injection is given soon after birth, or the medication can be administered orally with three staggered doses over three weeks. However parental refusal has been a perennial issue with the vitamin K shot since the 1990s and, for this brief piece, I will do my best to provide an overview of the issue. Rest assured, there is no evidence of an increase in VKDB deaths in New Zealand and, in fact, there may not have been any at all. Still, parental refusal of vitamin K can contribute to declining vaccinations, a trend that was studied a decade ago and is in need of an update.