Doctor who said shot caused magnetism investigated
COLUMBUS — A Cleveland area physician who told an Ohio House committee in the summer of 2021 that coronavirus vaccines could “interface” with cell towers and magnetize recipients now is in danger of losing her license to practice medicine in Ohio.
A state board that licenses doctors notified Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a Cleveland area osteopathic physician, that it’s considering punishment that could go as far as revoking her license to practice medicine in Ohio after she ignored investigators and flouted a subpoena. Tenpenny made national headlines in June 2021 when she appeared before the Ohio House Health Committee to spread false claims about COVID-19 vaccines.
A Sept. 14 letter from the State Medical Board doesn’t specify what prompted the regulators to launch their investigation. However, it alleges that Tenpenny for months ignored investigators’ requests for information and defied a subpoena seeking her deposition.
Ohio law allows the board to limit, revoke or suspend a medical license for an array of offenses including failure to cooperate with an investigation. Tenpenny, per the letter, told the board it had no “lawful basis” issuing her a subpoena.
Tenpenny’s conspiratorial June 8, 2021, testimony to the Ohio House Health Committee included a series of false claims about purported dangers of vaccines. She baselessly claimed vaccines run a risk of causing ALS, cancer, and other potentially lethal diseases. Her claims about vaccines’ magnetizing effects drew Ohio into lampooning national media coverage and cemented enough political opposition to kill a broad anti-vaccination bill Tenpenny testified to support.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized,” Tenpenny said. “They can put a key on their forehead and it sticks … There have been people who have long suspected there’s an interface, yet to be defined, an interface between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers.”
Tenpenny had been a wellknown figure among anti-vaccine circles for years. She also makes money through the advocacy. Her 2008 book, “Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages” sells on Amazon for $300; she charges $179 to enroll in a webinar in which she warns of how the COVID-19 “shots can make you sick or kill you;” her site also sells health supplements, including a $79.95 detoxification supplement to “cleanse your body of toxins, heavy metals and pollutants.”
A March 2021 report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate identified Tenpenny as one of the 12 most prominent purveyors of vaccine misinformation on social media. A report later that year from the De Beaumont Foundation cited Tenpenny while demanding that state medical boards crack down on the “small but vocal minority of physicians” who use their medical licenses to give credence to bogus health advice around COVID-19.
On Thursday, Tenpenny hosted Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo on her podcast, who has been criticized for his own dubious statements in opposition to vaccination.
Tenpenny didn’t respond to inquiries left on her personal phone and with her assistant. Attorney Tom Renz, who is representing Tenpenny and is also aligned with the anti-vaccination movement in Ohio, didn’t respond to a call.
The news outlet Vice first reported on Tenpenny’s citation.
She has requested an administrative hearing, which has yet to be scheduled, according to state Medical Board spokeswoman Jerica Stewart. After the hearing, an examiner will prepare a report and recommendation, from which board members will make a final disciplinary decision. Stewart declined to specify what sparked the board’s probe, saying that complaints and investigations are confidential.
A medical board investigator first arrived at Tenpenny’s office on July 14, 2021. That same day, the nonprofit newsroom the Ohio Capital Journal published an article quoting GOP House Health Chairman Scott Lipps blaming Rep. Jennifer Gross, a West Chester Republican who has championed anti-vaccination legislation, for insisting that Tenpenny testify to lawmakers.
The Ohio House would go on months later to pass a narrower bill effectively blocking schools and employers from requiring vaccination as a term of enrollment or employment.