This week, the Ohio State Medical Board voted to indefinitely suspend Sherri Tenpenny's medical license and fined her $3,000.
Sherri Tenpenny is an osteopath physician who was listed among the Center for Countering Digital Hate's "Disinformation Dozen"— a group responsible for spreading up to 65% of anti-vaccine content on the internet. The Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Tenpenny used her social media channels to spread anti-vaccine and anti-masking disinformation. She also became famous after testifying in June 2021 in front of an Ohio State House Health Committee supporting House Bill 248, the "Enact Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act."
In that testimony, she expressed fears that people were becoming magnetized after getting the vaccine, citing evidence of people being able to stick metal keys and spoons to their bodies, post-vaccine. She also hinted that there was some kind of connection between the vaccine metals and 5G towers. In case it isn't obvious, I have to state clearly that those assertions are all conspiracy theories that are not grounded in scientific fact.
Cleveland.com explains that her 2021 testimony at the Ohio State House Health Committee became the "subject of widespread ridicule," and "triggered a swarm of 350 complaints to the State Medical Board and a chain of events that led to the regulators indefinitely suspending the medical license Wednesday of anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny." They go on:
The board, charged with protecting the public and overseeing the licensure of Ohio's doctors, yanked Tenpenny's license on procedural grounds rather than the substance of her comments. Board staff found she flouted investigators who came to visit, declined to answer written questions, and objected wholesale to the regulators' inquiry.
"Dr. Tenpenny, neither you nor any doctor licensed by this board is above the law, and you must comply with the investigation," said Dr. Jonathan Feibel, an orthopedic surgeon and medical board member. "You have not done so, and therefore, until you do, your license will be suspended."
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Tenpenny refused to answer the medical board's questions and didn't show up for a deposition nor an investigative conference. They further explain:
The board asked Tenpenny for her evidence and sources to back up her claims about the COVID-19 vaccines, including an allegation that it was a ruse to inject people with genetic material and that patients suffered multiple complications.
The board also asked her to back up her claims about "some major metropolitan areas liquifying dead bodies and pouring them into the water supply."
Since that 2021 Ohio House hearing, Tenpenny has continued spreading her anti-vaccine disinformation, and has the ear of Presidential Candidate RFK, Jr. In June 2023, she appeared on RFK, Jr.'s "Health Policy Roundtable," alongside others from the Disinformation Dozen list. The four Disinformation Dozen members at the roundtable included: Sherri Tenpenny, Joseph Mercola, Sayer Ji, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. himself. To learn more about that roundtable, listen to Conspirituality Podcast Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable:
On June 26, presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, Jr hosted a "health policy roundtable" on Rumble. His guests included Joe Mercola, Sherri Tenpenny, Mikki Willis, and a host of other anti-vax luminaries. Very little policy was discussed, though RFK put forward plenty of ideas about executive orders, including blackballing scientists and researchers behind FDA-approved drugs and censoring scientific journals. Derek breaks down some of the more egregious moments.
