Doc Who Said COVID Vax Can Magnetize People Has License Reinstated

Sherri Tenpenny, DO, the Ohio physician who claimed COVID vaccines can magnetize people, had her medical license reinstated last month, according to the State Medical Board of Ohio.

Tenpenny's license was suspended indefinitely in August 2023, but was reinstated during the April 10 board meeting, a spokesperson for the board confirmed to MedPage Today.

"Sherri Tenpenny has met the Medical Board's conditions for reinstatement, including submission of an application for reinstatement, payment of her fine, and certification of cooperation with the board's investigation to date," the spokesperson said, noting that the reinstatement is "effective upon the processing of documents."

Two board members voted no, two members abstained, and seven voted in favor of reinstating Tenpenny's license, though one member noted that her vote was "a reluctant 'yes,'" according to a recording from the board meeting.

The board had suspended Tenpenny's license indefinitely after she failed to cooperate with an investigation into public comments she made about COVID vaccines, MedPage Today previously reported. She was also fined $3,000.

The board launched its investigation into Tenpenny after receiving some 350 complaints about comments she made to state lawmakers in 2021. Those comments included charges that COVID shots can cause people to become magnetized, or create "an interface with 5G towers," according to board documents.

Initially, Tenpenny did not comply with the investigation by not responding to board outreach. Ultimately, her lawyer sent the board a letter stating that she would not respond and that declining to "cooperate in the Board's bad faith and unjustified assault on her licensure, livelihood, and constitutional rights cannot be construed as an admission of any allegations against her."

The board issued Tenpenny a citation in September 2022 for failure to cooperate with the investigation, claiming that she didn't comply with a subpoena and failed to truthfully answer questions asked by a board investigator. She then requested an administrative hearing that was set for April 2023, where she submitted her defense in writing to the board.

Still, the board voted to suspend her license indefinitely because she "refused to cooperate" with the board investigation. "And that refusal was based on her unsupported and subjective belief regarding the Board's motive for the investigation," according to board documents. "Licensees of the Board cannot simply refuse to cooperate in investigations because they decide they do not like what they assume is the reason for the investigation."

Tenpenny was first licensed to practice osteopathic medicine in Ohio in 1984. In 1994, she founded the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center in Middleburg Heights.

In 2021, she was named as one of the "Disinformation Dozen," a list created by the Center for Countering Digital Hate focusing on 12 people who were responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content on social media.

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