Vaccinate Oklahoma

12/10/2025

A new study in JAMA shows that vitamin K shot refusal has nearly doubled since 2017. About 200,000 babies born between 2017-2024 didn't receive this simple, life-saving intervention.

Just yesterday, a pediatric ER physician shared a case with me. A 16-day-old girl brought in for seizures. Bulging fontanelle. A brain scan showing massive bleeding into the ventricles and brain tissue. Her parents had declined the vitamin K shot at birth. Despite emergency vitamin K administration and neurosurgery to evacuate the bleeding, she didn't survive. (Some details have been changed to protect the family's privacy.)

This is not fearmongering. This is reality.

The vitamin K shot is not a vaccine. It's a vitamin supplement - the same vitamin K found in spinach and kale. It simply gives babies a nutrient they critically lack at birth.

Babies are born with dangerously low vitamin K levels. Very little crosses the placenta during pregnancy, and breast milk contains almost none. This isn't a flaw in breastfeeding; it's just biology.

No, mom can't fix this through diet or supplements. I know this feels counterintuitive, but even when breastfeeding mothers eat tons of leafy greens or take vitamin K supplements, it barely changes the amount in their breast milk. Our bodies just don't transfer it efficiently that way.

Without enough vitamin K, babies can't clot their blood properly. This can lead to bleeding anywhere in the body - but bleeding in the brain is what we really worry about. It can happen suddenly, without warning, anytime in the first six months of life.

Babies who don't receive the shot are 81 times more likely to develop late-onset bleeding. And late-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding has a mortality rate of 20-50%.

The reason most of us have never seen this is precisely because the shot works. It's been standard practice since 1961. We've prevented this tragedy so effectively that people have forgotten it exists.

What about oral vitamin K drops? I get why this sounds appealing - drops instead of a shot. But there are real problems. First, newborns' digestive systems are immature and absorption is unpredictable - some babies absorb it well, others don't, and you have no way of knowing which category your baby falls into. Second, babies can spit up the drops or not swallow the full dose. Third - oral vitamin K requires multiple doses over several weeks or months. Miss even one dose and protection drops significantly. Studies from Europe found that while oral vitamin K might help prevent early bleeding, it's far less effective at preventing late-onset bleeding, which is the most deadly kind.

I understand the instinct to question everything when it comes to your newborn. That protective instinct is good. But this particular intervention - one shot, one time, of a vitamin - has been protecting babies for over 60 years.

The consequences of refusing it are rare. But when they happen, they're catastrophic.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/parents-refusing-vitamin-k-shots-newborns-study-finds-rcna247580
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2842444

12/10/2025

"During the northern hemisphere (NH) 2024–2025 influenza season, A(H3N2) variants emerged with multiple parallel substitutions affecting cluster transition sites 135, 145, 158 and/or 189, with implications for the 2025–2026 season."

Background: All of the major antigenic changes in influenza A(H3N2) viruses since 1968 have involved mutations at just nine amino acid positions, called cluster transition sites, surrounding the receptor binding region of the hemagglutinin surface protein. During the northern hemisphere (NH) 2024–...

12/08/2025

"The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices appointed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has voted to abandon universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns."

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted today to abandon universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns, instead recommending individual decision-making in consultation with a health care provider for mothers who test negative for the virus.

11/21/2025

Winter is coming. Vaccines are in the news. What does your family need to stay safe this season? Here’s a quick guide to who needs which vaccines – pair with hand washing, fresh air, fruits and vegetables, and movement to keep your family feeling good this respiratory season.

Flu 🍂
• Recommended for everyone 6+ months each season.
• Some children getting a flu vaccine for the first time may need 2 doses—check with your pediatrician.

COVID-19* 🧵
• Babies & children under 2
• Adults 65+
• Pregnant people
• Ages 2–64 with conditions that raise their risk

* Talk to your provider or pharmacist to see what’s recommended/accessible for your family

RSV 🧺
• Adults 75+ and 50–74 at higher risk: one-time RSV vaccine
• Pregnant people at 32–36 weeks during RSV season
• Infants may get a monoclonal antibody if mom wasn’t vaccinated in pregnancy

🫶 Make your list, book your appointments, and share this with a friend.


https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/respiratory-season/

11/21/2025

Decades of rigorous and scientifically sound research have proven that vaccines do not cause autism. CDC’s sudden decision to change language on its website reversing that finding is reckless and harmful.

Our statement with HIVMA, APIC, SHEA and SIDP: https://bit.ly/3XEc0KH

11/21/2025

10/31/2025

"Vaccination against herpes zoster (shingles) may reduce the risk of heart disease, dementia, and death in adults aged 50 and older, according to Case Western University research presented yesterday at IDWeek 2025 in Atlanta."

The study authors say the findings suggest that the shingles vaccine can prevent both infection and its complications.

10/31/2025

"Remarkably, patients who received either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy were more than twice as likely to be alive after three years compared with those who didn't receive either vaccine. Surprisingly, patients with tumors that don't typically respond well to immunotherapy also saw very strong benefits, with nearly fivefold improvement in three-year overall survival. This link between improved survival and receiving a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine remained strong even after we controlled for factors like disease severity and co-occurring conditions."

The researchers found that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines could potentially help patients whose tumors don’t respond well to traditional immunotherapy.

10/31/2025

An *actual* likely contributor to autism is infection during pregnancy. Autism is common in children with congenital rubella syndrome--where the mother was infected with rubella during pregnancy. Infection generally seems to be a risk factor (possibly due to fevers), and a recent study shows that COVID infection can also increase the risk. This is another reason why Kennedy's messaging on Tylenol and autism was so awful: reducing fever using drugs like Tylenol may actually *protect* the developing fetus from some risk.

Anyway, seek advice from your physician on what to do for vaccination and infection during pregnancy, rather than listen to anti-science grifters and folks who have no idea what they're talking about. Several links in the comments.

10/09/2025

"RFK Jr. promised to restore 'gold standard science' to the HHS. How's that going for him? Let's see if his decision earlier this year regarding funding to GAVI was informed by 'gold standard science'."

RFK Jr. promised to restore "gold standard science" to the HHS. How's that going for him? Let's see if his decision earlier this year regarding funding to GA...