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The State Medical Board of Ohio voted to suspend the medical license of Sherri Tenpenny, DO, on Wednesday, after she failed to cooperate with an investigation into public comments she made about the COVID-19 vaccines, according to a spokesperson for the board.

The , and Tenpenny will be fined $3,000, the spokesperson added, noting that "in order to reinstate her license, Dr. Tenpenny must meet the board's conditions for reinstatement."

To meet those conditions, Tenpenny must pay the fine and submit an application for reinstatement, according to the .

In 2021, Tenpenny told state lawmakers that the COVID vaccines or create "an interface with 5G towers," the disciplinary document noted.

The board launched an investigation after it received "approximately 350 complaints" about Tenpenny's comments, but the investigator claimed that Tenpenny never cooperated, even after multiple attempts to contact her.

According to the disciplinary document, investigators first attempted to contact Tenpenny on July 14, 2021 in person, then a week later by email. She allegedly did not engage with the investigators after either attempt. Tenpenny later claimed she was unaware of those requests at the time.

After several more attempts to contact and question Tenpenny, investigators received a letter from Tenpenny's attorney, Thomas Renz, telling the board that she would not respond, adding that "[d]eclining 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."

Tenpenny reportedly refused to comply with several more attempts by investigators to question her between September 2021 and 2022.

After that final attempt, the state medical board issued a citation in September 2022 to Tenpenny for her failure to cooperate with its investigation. The citation claimed Tenpenny did not comply with its subpoena and failed to truthfully answer questions asked by the board's investigator.

Tenpenny requested an administrative hearing, which was scheduled for April 2023, during which she was able to submit her defense in writing to the board. However, the board decided to suspend her license for not complying with the board's repeated attempts to question her.

"In short, Dr. Tenpenny did not simply fail to cooperate with a Board investigation, she refused to cooperate," the board wrote in the disciplinary document. "And that refusal was based on her unsupported and subjective belief regarding the Board's motive for the investigation. 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."

Several other doctors have been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, with some recently facing disciplinary action.

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

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