A slew of popular dating apps teamed up with the White House this week in a campaign to get more people vaccinated, some offering users profile badges that show they got the shot and others giving vaccinated people premium content to use on their app.
The new partnership, which involves Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OKCupid and a handful of others, is part of an increasing push to get young adults the shot, the group with the lowest percentage of people vaccinated and some of the most hesitant.
Bumble, Match, OKCupid, BLK and Chispa, for example, have all created badges that say things like “Vaccinated” or “Vaxified” to let potential dates know they’ve gotten the shot.
“You're 14% more likely to get a match if you're vaccinated,” said Ben Wakana, the White House’s Deputy Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement, in an interview with Spectrum News.
“This work with Tinder and Bumble and Hinge and OKCupid helps demonstrate that millions of people are already getting vaccinated, and you'll now see your friends [and] your potential spouses who have been vaccinated,” he added.
Hinge and Tinder will give vaccinated members access to premium features of the app, plus other suggested ways to display their vaccination status on their profile.
President Joe Biden has set a goal of at least one shot for 70% of adults by July 4. As of Friday, more than 60% had reached that checkpoint, according to CDC data.
More than 160 million people have gotten at least one dose of vaccine, including more than four million teenagers 12 or older.
The partnership with dating apps is meant to push the country closer to the president’s July 4 benchmark of getting “closer to normal,” including by calling on young people.
Still, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that Americans 18 to 29 are most likely to be unsure about the vaccine, and the White House said they're also paying attention to groups like college students.
“It's important to know that confidence in vaccines is increasing,” Wakana said.
“We know that people still have questions about this. It is a personal choice, just like dating is a personal decision,” he added. “We would encourage people to talk to your doctor or talk to your faith leader, talk to your family who’s been vaccinated, your pharmacist who you trust.”
Earlier this week, top health officials asked teens and college-age Americans to consider being “the reason to celebrate one more” and help continue to drive COVID-19 case numbers and deaths down.
One senior White House adviser, Andy Slavitt, shared the story of his son’s struggle with long COVID and how he was still experiencing symptoms like shortness of breath and an irregular heart rate six months after catching the virus.
“His hands are cold to the touch,” Slavitt said in a briefing Tuesday morning. “I know it's easy when you're young to imagine that these things don't affect you.”
Officials have also pointed to the ease of getting the vaccine, including at about 20,000 walk-in locations among the total 80,000 vaccine sites throughout the country.
The Biden administration has created a website, Vaccines.gov, to help people locate the shot near them as well as a text line through which people can text their zip code to 438829.