Vaccines · Profiles
Sherri Tenpenny: The Magnet, the Boot Camp and the Canadian Connection
An Ohio osteopath who once ran a hospital emergency department became one of the most-quoted anti-vaccine voices in the world. She sells a $623 course on how to talk people out of vaccines, told legislators the COVID shot could magnetize them, lost her licence for refusing to cooperate with the regulator, let it expire after getting it back, and now owes the U.S. government nearly $700,000 in taxes. Canadian groups are still quoting her.
$623her six-week “Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp”
~350complaints to Ohio’s medical board after her 2021 testimony
Expiredher Ohio licence, as of 1 Oct 2025, per the board’s own register
$698,982taxes, penalties and interest a U.S. judge ordered her to pay, 2026
1. Who she is
The record before the activism
- Education: BA, University of Toledo, 1980; Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, Missouri, 1984. Licensed in Ohio since 1984.
- Emergency medicine: director of the emergency department at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, Ohio, from 1986 to 1998.
- Private practice: opened an osteopathic practice in 1994, then the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center in Middleburg Heights, near Cleveland, in 1996, and another practice in 2011.
- How she describes herself: “Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine,” with “many advanced courses in alternative medicine, including acupuncture and complex homeopathy,” and “more than 40,000 hours” spent “exposing the problems associated with vaccines” (her 2020 London Real biography).
Somewhere along the way the emergency physician became a vaccine opponent. By the mid-2000s she was writing books against vaccination and speaking on the alternative-health circuit. Her own speaker material, as compiled by SourceWatch, listed breast thermography, women’s hormones, iodine, and thyroid and adrenal conditions among her lecture topics, and described her as president emeritus of the Alliance for Natural Health USA and a columnist for, among others, NaturalNews.com and the Canadian outlet TheAgora.
2. The business
- Books: A Healthier You! (2005); FOWL! Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think (2006); The Risks, the Benefits, the Choices (2006); and Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages (2008). She is also a contributor to Vaccine Epidemic.
- The boot camp: since 2017 she and business partner Matthew Hunt have sold a six-week online course, the “Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp,” for $623. In 2021, CBC’s Marketplace enrolled undercover and found it was largely about persuasion: how to connect with people personally and change their minds about vaccines.
- The COVID webinars: on Saturday 10 July 2021, a month after her magnetism testimony, she sold a two-hour live webinar, “20 Mechanisms of Injuries: How COVID-19 Injections Can Make You Sick… Even Kill You,” at $199 (“Platinum,” with recording and transcript) or $165 (“Gold”). The promotional email, sent by Choonadi, LLC, doing business as Vaxxter.com, from her Middleburg Heights office address, also asked for donations, saying “Vaxxter exposes the truth about the vaccine industry. As a result, we are being censored.” Four days later, a medical board investigator turned up at that office.
- Price list, 2022: cleveland.com reported her 2008 book selling on Amazon for $300, a $179 webinar on how the COVID-19 “shots can make you sick or kill you,” and a $79.95 “detoxification” supplement on her site.
- “The biggest scam ever perpetrated on the human race”: her description of the coronavirus pandemic in a May 2020 interview with London Real, which drew more than 245,000 views on its Freedom Platform within weeks.
- The circuit: talks, DVDs, supplements, a long-running online show, a Substack, and appearances in anti-vaccine documentary series such as Vaccines Revealed. Her show has hosted guests including Rocco Galati in 2020, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo in October 2022, and Brianna Ladapo. She has been a guest on Stew Peters’s show.
3. The record
← Swipe the table sideways →
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| May 2010 | In Veryzer v. Secretary of HHS (No. 06-522V), a U.S. vaccine-injury case, Special Master Richard B. Abell excludes her expert report as unreliable. He finds she is “unqualified to opine” on neurology, calls her report “thoroughly unscientific,” and excludes the report of the other expert in the case, Canadian physician Andrew Moulden, on the same grounds. (Order filed 19 May 2010; public version 15 June 2010.) |
| Jan 2015 | Her Australian speaking tour collapses as venue after venue cancels. Osteopathy Australia says she is not registered as a health practitioner there. She calls off the tour, citing threats; police could not confirm them. |
| 2017 | The $623 “Mastering Vaccine Info Boot Camp” begins. |
| Dec 2020 | A Facebook page she managed is taken down. |
| Mar 2021 | Named in the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s “Disinformation Dozen,” twelve accounts it found responsible for most anti-vaccine content shared on Facebook and Twitter. |
| Jun 2021 | Called by Republican legislators as an expert witness before the Ohio House Health Committee, she claims COVID-19 vaccines can magnetize people and “interface” with cell towers. |
| 10 Jul 2021 | Sells a $165–$199 webinar on how COVID-19 injections “can make you sick… even kill you.” |
| 14 Jul 2021 | A State Medical Board of Ohio investigator visits her office. She doesn’t respond to his card or a follow-up email. |
| Jul–Sep 2021 | Twitter permanently suspends her account in July; YouTube removes hers in September, both for COVID-19 misinformation. She is back on X, as @BusyDrT, after Twitter’s change of ownership. |
| 2021–22 | About 350 complaints reach the board. Through her lawyer, Thomas Renz, she refuses written interrogatories (Sept 2021), a subpoena to a deposition (Nov 2021) and an investigative office conference (July 2022), each time saying the board had no “lawful basis.” |
| 14 Sep 2022 | The board cites her for failing to cooperate. In October she hosts Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on her podcast. |
| 27 Jun 2023 | Takes part in an online fundraiser for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. |
| 9 Aug 2023 | The Ohio board suspends her licence indefinitely for failing to cooperate, and fines her $3,000. The suspension is procedural: the board never ruled on the substance of her testimony. |
| Aug–Nov 2023 | She appeals to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The court refuses to stay the suspension (15 Sept) and dismisses the appeal for lack of jurisdiction (11 Oct). A second appeal is filed, then voluntarily dropped (21 Nov). |
| 10 Apr 2024 | The board votes 7–2 to reinstate her, having found she met the conditions of its 2023 order, including the $3,000 fine. |
| 1 Oct 2025 | Her Ohio licence expires. In July 2026 the board’s register lists it as “Inactive” and “Expired.” |
| Jun 2024 | The U.S. Department of Justice sues her for unpaid federal taxes. |
| Apr 2026 | U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese orders her to pay $698,982 in back taxes, penalties and interest for 2001, 2012 and 2013. She has said she was targeted for her vaccine views. |
| 12 Nov 2026 | Vaccine Choice Canada quotes her calling the childhood schedule a “Pediatric Poisoning Schedule.” |
4. The Canadian connection
Tenpenny has no Canadian licence and, as far as we can find, no record of a Canadian speaking tour. She doesn’t need one. Her name and material keep crossing the border.
Where she shows up in Canada
- Andrew Moulden, 2010: in the Veryzer vaccine-injury case, she shared the witness list with Canadian physician and vaccine opponent Andrew Moulden. The special master excluded both of them as unreliable.
- TheAgora: listed as a columnist for this Canadian outlet in her own speaker material (via SourceWatch).
- Ontario, March 2015: during the measles scare, a letter in the Guelph Mercury named Tenpenny, Suzanne Humphries and Russell Blaylock as doctors who disagreed with mainstream vaccine advice. See Her reach in Ontario.
- September 2020: she hosted Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati on her show for a “discussion on current global events.” The video is posted on the website of Galati’s Constitutional Rights Centre. Two months earlier, Galati had filed Vaccine Choice Canada’s COVID lawsuit.
- 2021: CBC Marketplace went inside her boot camp to show Canadians how the persuasion is taught.
- November 2026: Vaccine Choice Canada’s verified X account quoted her, tagged her, and linked to her Substack, under the hashtag #HealthCanada. See the post, checked line by line.
5. Her stages
Who has hosted her, quoted her, used her endorsement, or appeared on her show. Each tick is documented in the sources below.
Quoted or promoted herUsed her endorsementAppeared on her showGave her a platformFundraiser
← Swipe the table sideways →
| Person or group | Quoted or promoted | Endorsement | On her show | Platform | Fundraiser |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaccine Choice CanadaCanadian anti-vaccine group | ✔X post, Nov 2026 | ||||
| Rocco GalatiToronto lawyer | ✔Guest, Sep 2020 | ||||
| Joseph LadapoFlorida Surgeon General | ✔Guest, Oct 2022 | ||||
| Stew PetersOnline show host | ✔Guest on his show, 2021 | ||||
| London RealU.K. online channel | ✔“Biggest scam” interview, May 2020 | ||||
| Andrew MouldenCanadian physician | ✔Fellow expert in Veryzer, 2010 | ||||
| Brianna LadapoWife of Florida’s Surgeon General | ✔Guest | ||||
| We The People HealthVenice, Florida clinic | ✔On its homepage | ||||
| Ohio House RepublicansHealth Committee, 2021 | ✔Called her as an expert witness | ||||
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr.2023 presidential campaign | ✔Online fundraiser, Jun 2023 | ||||
| Vaccines RevealedDocumentary series | ✔Featured “expert” | ||||
| Ontario letter writers, 2015Guelph Mercury | ✔Cited as an authority |
A tick means only what its column says. Appearing on her show is not an endorsement of her views. An empty cell means we found no record. Private individuals are described, not named. Corrections are welcome.
What the record shows, and doesn’t
- Her licence was suspended for refusing to cooperate, not for what she said. The Ohio board never ruled on whether her testimony was false. That question was simply never reached.
- She was reinstated in April 2024, but her licence has since expired. As of July 2026, the board’s register shows it “Inactive” and “Expired” since 1 October 2025. She is still introduced as “Dr.” and still speaks about vaccines.
- The tax judgment is a civil matter, not a criminal one.
- What is beyond dispute: COVID-19 vaccines do not magnetize people, the childhood schedule is not “poisoning,” and no mRNA vaccine is given to newborns in Canada.
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Sources
- State Medical Board of Ohio, licence look-up, Sherri Jane Tenpenny, DO, licence 34.003789, printed 27 Jul 2026 (status, board actions and court actions).
- State Medical Board of Ohio, Notice of Opportunity for Hearing to Sherri J. Tenpenny, D.O., 14 Sep 2022.
- Veryzer v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 06-0522V, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Office of Special Masters, order on motions to exclude, filed 19 May 2010 (redacted public version 15 June 2010).
- Jake Zuckerman, “Anti-vax doc who said COVID-19 shots magnetize hosts facing medical board investigation,” cleveland.com, 27 Oct 2022; and “This doctor said vaccines magnetize people. Ohio suspended her medical license,” cleveland.com, 9 Aug 2023.
- Vaxxter.com (Choonadi, LLC), promotional email for the “20 Mechanisms of Injuries” webinar, 9 July 2021 (copy on file).
- London Real, “Dr. Sherri Tenpenny – How the Coronavirus Pandemic Is the Biggest Scam Ever Perpetrated on the Human Race,” 15–21 May 2020.
- Associated Press, “A doctor whose views on COVID-19 vaccinations drew complaints has her medical license reinstated,” 7 May 2024.
- State Medical Board of Ohio, In re Sherri Tenpenny, D.O., Case No. 22-CRF-0168, order of 9 Aug 2023, as summarized by Nathan Schachtman, “Tenpenny Down to Tuppence,” 22 Aug 2023.
- David Gorski, “The Ohio State Medical Board has finally suspended the medical license of antivax quack Sherri Tenpenny,” Science-Based Medicine, 14 Aug 2023.
- CPA Practice Advisor (from cleveland.com), “Ohio Doctor Famous for Saying COVID-19 Vaccine Caused People to Become Magnetized Owes $698,000 in Back Taxes,” 4 May 2026; WOSU / AP, IRS lawsuit, 4 Jun 2024.
- Genetic Literacy Project, republishing CBC Marketplace, “Manipulation and persuasion: inside a $600 COVID conspiracy boot camp,” 6 Apr 2021.
- SBS News (Australia), “US anti-vaccination campaigner Sherri Tenpenny cancels Australian tour,” 29 Jan 2015.
- Center for Countering Digital Hate, “The Disinformation Dozen,” March 2021.
- SourceWatch, “Sherri Tenpenny” (affiliations, columns and lecture topics as described in her own speaker material).
- Wikipedia, “Sherri Tenpenny” (education, career, books, platform removals, 2023 fundraiser).
- Constitutional Rights Centre, video page “Discussion on current global events with Host Sherri Tenpenny & guest Rocco Galati,” 21 Sep 2020.
- Jann Bellamy, “Chiropractic pediatrics conference features anti-vaccination ideology . . . as usual,” Science-Based Medicine, 3 Aug 2017 (Vaccines Revealed).
- “Doctor wrong about risks and benefits of vaccines,” letter, Guelph Mercury, 17 Mar 2015, p. A8.
- Vaccine Choice Canada, post on X, 12 Nov 2026 (screenshots on file).
- QuackeryWatch, Venice clinic page and Brianna Ladapo page (sources there).
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