Ready for a shot of love? The White House says roll up your sleeves.
As part of President Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70 percent of American adults with at least one shot by July 4th, the White House announced a partnership with some of the largest dating apps in the country Friday.
The apps — which include Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble and Badoo — will launch new features to encourage hesitant singles to get inoculated.
Some of the features will include badges on profiles showing an individual’s vaccination status, access to free premium content like boosts, super likes and super swipes for vaccinated users as well as in-app promotions and links to vaccination sites.
A “vaccinated” option will also be created for users to select in preferences, allowing individuals to filter non-vaccinated people out of their search.
Research from OKCupid revealed that individuals who weren’t vaccinated received 14 percent fewer matches than those who were.
Each app will offer slightly different features.
On Tinder, for example, members will be able to add two possible stickers to their profiles and be given one “super like.”
A “super like” is an option users have on the app instead of simply swiping right. It tells the other user that you are extremely interested in them.
Users receive one free “super like” daily.
On Bumble — which connects users for dating, friendship or business — or Badoo, users can add a “vaccinated” badge to their profiles. The two apps will also offer credits for premium features including spotlight, which shows an individual to more users, and superswipes, their versions of “super likes.”
Bumble also has a network of influencers whom it says it will use to amplify pro-vaccine messaging.
In addition to an “I’m Vaccinated” profile badge, OkCupid will give a free “boost” to show users to more potential matches, and allow users to filter out non-vaccinated individuals.
Speaking to reporters at a briefing Friday, White House COVID adviser Andy Slavitt noted, “Social distancing and dating were also a bit of a challenging combination, so today dating sites like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, and Badoo are announcing a series of features to encourage vaccinations and help people meet people who have that universally attractive quality — they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.”
“We have finally found the one thing that makes us all more attractive: a vaccination.”
