The vitamin K shot is not a vaccine.
That doesn’t keep anti-vaccine folks from pushing misinformation about it and scaring parents away from protecting their babies from vitamin K deficiency bleeding.
Does the Vitamin K Shot Contain 100mcg of Aluminum?
Newborns have been routinely getting vitamin K shots since at least since 1961.
And except for a brief “vitamin K brouhaha” in the early 1990s, when a study suggested that vitamin K shots might be associated with childhood cancer (they aren’t), these shots have helped to nearly eradicate hemorrhagic disease of the newborn.
So why would someone want to skip it?
The photo above suggests that they think newborns get too much aluminum from the shot. If you look closely though, you can see why they are wrong.
The vial and package insert of vitamin K clearly states that it contains no more than 100 mcg/L of aluminum.
What’s a baby’s dose of vitamin K? They don’t get a liter! They get a single IM shot of 1mg of vitamin K, or 0.5ml.
So they are obviously not getting 100mcg of aluminum.
Do you see why?
With a concentration of 100 mcg/L or 100 mcg/1000ml (remember that one liter is equal to 1000 milliliters), since they are only getting a 0.5ml dose of vitamin K, they are getting, at most, only 0.05 mcg of aluminum.
That’s 0.00005 mg of aluminum, as compared to the 0.225mg of aluminum in the Hib vaccine.
Why is aluminum even added to vitamin K?
It’s not.
Keep in mind that aluminum isn’t even listed as an ingredient of vitamin K. But according to FDA rules, “Applicants and manufacturers must use validated assay methods to determine the aluminum content in parenteral drug products.” .
And like many other IV fluids, another ingredient of vitamin K, 5% dextrous hydrous (sugar water), does often contain some aluminum, about 17.3mcg/L. These small amounts of aluminum are present “because practically all materials used to manufacture containers for pharmaceuticals contain Al.” From aluminum oxide in glass components to aluminum used as catalysts to make plastics, it is hard to avoid aluminum. But as we have learned that premature babies could get total parenteral nutrition for prolonged periods of time and be exposed to too much aluminum, the FDA has taken steps to limit this exposure.
Unfortunately, some of those steps, like the labeling of aluminum in vitamin K ampules is used to scare parents.
What to Know About Aluminum in the Vitamin K Shot
Neither the trace amounts of aluminum or any other ingredient in your baby’s vitamin K shot shouldn’t keep you from protecting him from vitamin K deficiency bleeding.
More on Aluminum in the Vitamin K Shot
- 7 Vitamin K Myths Busted
- Vitamin K Shots for Newborns: Questions and Answers
- Vaccine Ingredients – Aluminum
- CDC – Facts about Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding
- CDC – Vitamin K Shot – Essential in Preventing Serious Bleeding in Newborns
- Are the Ingredients in the Newborn Vitamin K Shot Safe?
- Review – Characterizing the Severe Reactions of Parenteral Vitamin K1
- CDC – Frequently Asked Questions: Vitamin K and the Vitamin K Shot Given at Birth
- CDC – Notes from the Field: Late Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding in Infants Whose Parents Declined Vitamin K Prophylaxis — Tennessee, 2013
- Study – Reasons for Refusal of Newborn Vitamin K Prophylaxis: Implications for Management and Education
- Study – Rise in late onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding in young infants because of omission or refusal of prophylaxis at birth.
- Baby dies because mother refused newborn vitamin K shot
- Vitamin K Refusal – The New Anti-Vax
- Separating Fact From Fiction in the Not-So-Normal Newborn Nursery: Vitamin K Shots
- Evidence on: The Vitamin K Shot in Newborns
- Here’s The Truth About Vitamin K For Newborns
- The terrifying result of refusing newborn Vitamin K
- Parents Say No to Vitamin K Shots, Babies Get Brain Damage
- Cochrane Report – Prophylactic vitamin K for vitamin K deficiency bleeding in neonates
- AAP – Where We Stand: Administration of Vitamin K
- Study – Neonatal Vitamin K Refusal and Nonimmunization
- What parents should know about newborn tests and vaccinations
- Are Pediatricians Complicit in Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding?
- Factors Associated With Refusal of Intramuscular Vitamin K in Normal Newborns
- Prophylactic Dosing of Vitamin K to Prevent Bleeding
- FDA – Aluminum in Large and Small Volume Parenterals Used in Total Parenteral Nutrition
- Study – Aluminum content in intravenous solutions for administration to neonates: role of product preparation and administration methods.
There Is a small mistake: The vial and package insert of vitamin K clearly states that the concentration of aluminum is 1mg/0.5ml.
That’s the concentration of vitamin K…
1mg/0.5ml
http://labeling.pfizer.com/ShowLabeling.aspx?id=4669
Eat my shit, cunt
Vincent… thanks for posting the insert from Pfizer.
The label shows death as an adverse reaction among other risks.
They state the alcohol could be toxic and states “Benzyl alcohol has been reported to be associated with a fatal “Gasping Syndrome” in premature infants.
They state Aluminum is toxic and has potential consequences. FDA says max allowable in drugs is 25mcg/L so if this drug has 100mcgs/L, then it’s 4 times the allowable. This is not a vitamin, it’s a drug. A vitamin doesn’t have a neurotoxin like aluminum in it.
They go on to say “Research indicates that patients with impaired kidney function, including premature neonates, who receive parenteral levels of aluminum at greater than 4 to 5 mcg/kg/day accumulate aluminum at levels associated with central nervous system and bone toxicity. Tissue loading may occur at even lower rates of administration.”
How do we know if the baby has impaired kidney function? How many babies are testes for impaired kidney function? Should we not be testing this first before even considering the shot? And do we really want to see if the baby’s newly developed organs can handle alcohol and aluminum?
What is the impact on the baby, being stabbed with a sharp needle and injected with Aluminum and Alcohol among other things?
Risk of Vitamin K deficiency is .25% to 1.7% and injecting this into a baby guarantees that they have aluminum in their system that will end up in their brain and tissue since their brain barrier isn’t formed yet. We guarantee they get toxic aluminum and alcohol injected into their blood stream with this shot.
What is the short, mid and long term effects of having ANY aluminum in the brain? Small amounts does not mean it’s not effecting the baby throughout their life in minor to major ways. Where are the studies showing that ANY aluminum is safe in the brain.
So I think I will take the .25 to 1.7% chance of Vitamin K dificiency vs the 100% risk of sticking aluminum in my baby’s brain.
Read the pamphlet folks and understand the risks before doing anythinf. Drug inserts show the truth of the damage they do.
You are correct and the fear mongering they do to parents to get them to accept this poison is off the rails. It lowers IQ and that’s why they insist on it. The truth always sounds insane these days.
Davyn death is also a side effect of birth and being a passenger in a car.
you fucking moronic rich sich fuck. suck balls to your government.
and go sniff aluminum.
The vitamin K shot/oral drops for newborns. And why it should be avoided.
I think the question that everyone misses is this, are babies born deficient in Vitamin K? Has nature somehow made a mistake?
From a sperm & egg, to bone, muscles and a brain. The body is capable of doing things that even the most sophisticated computers cannot duplicate.. Yet the body forgot to give adequate Vitamin K at birth?
A newborn’s natural prothrombin levels reach normal levels between days 5 and 7, peaking around the eighth day of life, related to the buildup of bacteria in baby’s digestive tract to produce the vitamin K that is necessary to form this blood clotting factor. Day 8 is said to be the only time in a baby’s life when the prothrombin level will naturally exceed 100 percent of normal.
First, in order to absorb vitamin K we need a functioning biliary and pancreas system, an infant’s digestive system isn’t fully developed at birth which is why we breastfeed, delaying solids until they are at least 6-months-old, and why breast milk only contains a small amount of highly absorbable vitamin k.
Too much vitamin K can tax the liver, cause jaundice and brain damage (among other things). As baby ages and the digestive tract, mucosal lining, gut flora, and enzyme functions develop, then baby can begin to process more vitamin K.
Secondly, the umbilical cord and placenta blood contains stem cells, which protect a baby against bleeding and perform all sorts of needed repairs inside an infant’s body after birth, in order for a baby to get this protective boost of stem cells, cord-cutting needs to be delayed and the blood needs to remain THIN so stem cells can easily travel and perform their functions at the rate needed. So baby has his/her own protective mechanism to prevent bleeding and repair organs. But that wasn’t discovered until after we started routinely giving infants vitamin K injections.. And now some countries don’t do the injections and the oral vit K drops are either routine or suggested.
Third, a newborn will have low levels of vitamin K because the intestines are not yet colonized with the bacteria needed to synthesize it, and the “vitamin K cycle” isn’t fully functional in newborns. So, it makes sense then to bypass the gut and inject vitamin K right into the muscle right? Except baby’s kidneys aren’t fully functional either. Hence the adverse effects and the packaging having a “black warning box” on the insert.
Finally, several clinical observations support the hypothesis that children have natural protective mechanisms that justify their low vitamin K levels at birth. I don’t know about you, but we should probably figure out why that is before we inject or give oral drops now and worry about it later.
Unrestricted access to the breast in the early days after birth is important, due to the higher levels of vitamin K in colostrum. The importance of early feeding has been recognised since the 1940’s. Babies who have been fed within their first 24 hours have significantly better coagulation times than babies not fed until after 24 hours.
Vitamin K levels in the breast milk rise markedly in response to the mother eating vitamin K rich foods (predominantly leafy greens) or taking vitamin K supplements.
Research in 1937 found that K levels in “normal” neonates were between 30-60% in ADULTS, falling to 15-30% on day two, and then gradually rising again until about day 8-10. This research led to the continuing belief that these low levels in the newborn are a “deficiency” and need to be corrected.
This was the leading evidence used to justify the use of vitamin K at birth, in any form. FEAR is the only reason it’s used at all and it continues today to help line the pockets of the drug manufacturers and administers. Now, even IF they needed it and IF a baby could use it in any form.. 30-60% is a vast difference in numbers BUT drops and shots are given as one size fits all.. ?
Remember, those are adult numbers it was compared against. Not newborns who naturally have low vitamin k levels and need thinner blood.
A child is a gift.. One we should not be messing with.. A gift that is beautifully wrapped, perfectly created and comes complete… No batteries (vitK) needed.
Well said Joe