Open Letter to Parents Regarding COVID Vaccination: Questions to Ask Your Physician and One Pediatrician’s Responses

Dr. Rennebohm is a pediatrician and pediatric rheumatologist.  He is currently largely retired.  In 2018 he officially retired from the pediatric rheumatology department at Cleveland Clinic, where he was also the Director of the International Susac Syndrome Consultation Service (2012-2018). Prior to that, he was at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Canada, where he was Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Rheumatology (2008-2012); before that he was at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where he was Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology for 21 years; and before that he was a pediatric rheumatologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He went to medical school at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), at La Jolla, where he graduated with an MD degree in 1972.   He completed his Pediatric Residency training at IWK Children’s Hospital/Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He completed his Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center  He has been a pediatrician for almost 50 years and a pediatric rheumatologist for about 42 years.  

Although he is no longer in clinical practice or affiliated with a medical school or health care institution, he has continued his intense interests in pediatric rheumatology, Susac syndrome, and now COVID.  In fact, throughout the past 2 years he has spent many hours per day on most days of most weeks intensively studying and writing about COVID---because he has realized how profoundly important and complex the COVID situation is.

He currently lives in Seattle, Washington.  His clinical pediatrics activity is now limited to being on “first pediatric call” for his 9 grandchildren.