Sherri J. Tenpenny is an American anti-vaccination activist and conspiracy theorist who promulgates disproven hypotheses that vaccines cause autism. An osteopathic physician by training, she is the author of four books opposing vaccination. In 2023 the State Medical Board of Ohio indefinitely suspended Tenpenny's medical license for failure to participate in its investigations. Her license was restored in 2024.[1]
Tenpenny had scheduled a speaking tour in Australia to occur starting in February 2015, but in January, after objections were raised to her anti-vaccination views, all the venues at which she was scheduled to speak cancelled the talks, and the tour was called off.[8][9] Tenpenny has been criticized by the Stop The Australian Anti-Vaccination Network for "endangering people's health" and "targeting vulnerable parents".[7]
Since 2017, Tenpenny and her business partner, Matthew Hunt, have taught a six-week, $623 course titled "Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp" designed to "sow seeds of doubt" regarding public health information. During the course, Tenpenny explains her views on the immune system and vaccines, and Hunt instructs participants on how best to use persuasion tactics in conversation to communicate the information.[10]
A Facebook page managed by Tenpenny was deactivated in December 2020 as part of the social network's efforts to reduce the amount of misinformation on the platform.[13] Nevertheless, a March 2021 analysis of Twitter and Facebook anti-vaccine content found Tenpenny to be one of 12 individual and organization accounts producing up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content across several social media platforms.[4] Some of Tenpenny's interviews with anti-vaccination activists and conspiracy theorists have attracted a large audience on Rumble, a video-sharing platform that does not have policies against disinformation.[14]
COVID-19 misinformation
Tenpenny advocated against the use of face coverings as a COVID-19 mitigation tool[15] despite scientific evidence in favor of their effectiveness.[16][17][18][19]
In a February 2021 video, Tenpenny falsely claimed that COVID-19 vaccines cause death and autoimmune diseases, saying "Some people are going to die from the vaccine directly, but a large number of people are going to start getting horribly sick and get all kinds of autoimmune diseases, 42 days to maybe a year out". There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines cause autoimmune diseases or death.[20][21][22]
In an April 2021 BitChute video, Tenpenny reiterated false claims that COVID-19 vaccines lacked testing and led to long-term health effects. Neither statement contained scientific merit or accuracy.[23] On May 17, 2021, Reuters refuted Tenpenny's claim that COVID-19 vaccines affect sperm and fertility. The news organization reiterated that there is no scientific evidence to back such false claims.[24]
Called by Republicans as an expert witness before a June 2021 hearing of the Ohio House Health Committee, Tenpenny promoted the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause people to become magnetized such that metal objects stick to their bodies, adding "There’s been people who have long suspected that there’s been some sort of an interface, yet-to-be-defined interface, between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers".[25][26][27] The video of her testimony was widely circulated, and in early July 2021 Twitter permanently suspended Tenpenny's account for "violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy".[28][29] Her YouTube account was removed in September 2021 for breaking the company's policies on COVID-19 misinformation.[30]
As Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Tenpenny claimed in posts laden with anti-semitic references that this event was manufactured as a distraction to mask new pandemic restrictions.[31] In 2022 she claimed that COVID-19 vaccines will turn people into "transhumanist cyborgs"[32] and predicted that "by the end of 2022, every fully vaccinated person over the age of 30 may have the equivalent of full-blown vaccine-induced immune suppressed AIDS".[33]
A December 2021 de Beaumont Foundation report cited Tenpenny as one of two extreme examples of a "small subset of [...] physicians" making "disproven claims" about COVID vaccines.[34][35]
On August 9, 2023 the State Medical Board of Ohio indefinitely suspended Tenpenny's medical license and imposed a $3,000 fine after two years of refusal to respond to questions or participate in her board hearings.[37][38][39] Her license was restored in 2024.[1]
Published works
Tenpenny, Sherri J. (2008). Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages. Middleburg Heights, Ohio: NMA Media Press. ISBN978-0-97909-104-9.
Tenpenny, Sherri (2006). FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think. Sevierville, Tenn.: Insight Pub. Co. ISBN978-1-93286-387-1.
Tenpenny, Sherri (2006). The Risks, the Benefits, the Choices, a Resource Guide for Parents. Sevierville, Tenn.: Insight Publishing. ISBN978-0-97434-482-9.
