New Data Shows Getting Vaccinated Sparks More Interest on Dating Apps

If you’ve been vaccinated, you might want to include it in your online profile. Several online dating apps have now reported seeing increased interest around the topic of vaccines.

According to a report from Vice in early March, a Tinder spokesperson told Motherboard that they’d seen a 238 percent increase in vaccine mentions in user bios in January, and noticed the interest surrounding the subject as early as November. Bumble also reported an increase in the number of people using the words “vaccine” or “vaccinated” in their profiles dating back to December. In the same time period, the number of profiles on Scruff with the word “vaccinated” added has doubled.

OkCupid took a more active approach by adding a question to its platform about whether or not you intend to get the vaccine. According to spokesperson Michael Kaye, those who claimed to have already received the vaccine were liked at double the rate of users who said they weren’t interested in getting it. 

Kaye also told Insider that 40 percent of millennial and Gen Z users on the platform would cancel a date with someone who refused to take the vaccine. In conjunction, he saw a 137 percent increase in mentions of “vaccine” in user profiles around the world since January. He noted that whether or not someone is willing to get the vaccine is not only a hot topic on the app but it has also become “a huge deal-breaker.” He told The New York Times, “getting the vaccine is the hottest thing you could be doing on a dating app right now.”

According to Vice, there is debate about whether talk of vaccines on dating apps is a positive. People can lie on dating app profiles with very little consequence, making it hard for dating app users to decipher who to trust. Also, many people still have not been able to get the vaccine, especially in densely populated cities, leading to more frustration and a sense of competition with those who have already been vaccinated.

It’s also unclear whether being vaccinated gives you the all-clear for being intimate with a partner, according to a recent report in The Washington Post. Doctors are urging people to “learn the full picture of an individual’s covid-19 practices, including masking, social distancing and other ways that they socialize,” because they can still spread the virus. Still, people are hopeful and ready to get back to normal as soon as possible.

Vice points out the upside of all the vaccine talk on dating apps. These platforms reach a lot of people and are becoming spaces where conversations about pressing topics take place. Since so many on these apps are talking about vaccines, it could raise awareness and inspire more people to get a vaccine than otherwise would.