Getting a COVID vaccine is now a dating app flex guaranteed to make you more desirable

By Malavika Pradeep

Published Mar 3, 2021 at 10:00 AM

Reading time: 2 minutes

Dating app bios have had a love-hate relationship with the pandemic. From humble toilet paper brags to puns about face masks and Purell gels, it seems as if dating profile bios have arrived at their latest pit-stop: COVID vaccination.

Keywords like “covid vaccinated” and “fully vaccinated” have started dominating bios as Tinder reported a 258 per cent rise in users mentioning the word “vaccine” between September and December 2020. OKCupid, a dating app that matches members based on multiple-choice questions, notes a 137 per cent increase in mentions of the keyword between November 2020 and January 2021.

Conversations about proper sanitation and precautions were already a turn-on for dating app users since the beginning of the pandemic. “Two out of three people are already having the ‘COVID conversation’ before they meet,” a spokesperson for Bumble explained in an interview with Tyla. “Before meeting up, 63 per cent of people had a conversation with their dates about the venue, mask-wearing and physical contact, with 80 per cent of people saying that this helped get to know their date better and feel safer.”

The latest trend of vaccination bios seems to further add on to a user’s ‘oomph’ factor. OKCupid includes a set of questions about vaccinations that users can choose to answer in order to match with potential suitors. The question “will you get the COVID-19 vaccine?” has gotten 45,000 correspondents with over 70 per cent positive responses. According to Tyla, these users are getting 2.3 times more ‘likes’ and 1.8 times more matches than those who said no.

“Not only is the vaccine becoming the biggest talking point on dating apps, it’s actually becoming a huge deal-breaker,” Michael Kaye, a spokesperson for OKCupid tells Insider. Further data collected by the app suggests that 40 per cent of millennials and gen Z users would cancel a date with someone who refuses to take the vaccine with the figure 18 per cent higher for women when compared to men.

Though most countries currently prioritise older citizens who are at the highest risk against the virus, majority of these vaccinated-hence-desirable users include key workers like health professionals and those with certain medical conditions who have been given priority in their country. Young vaccine trial participants and US citizens who have been queuing up outside pharmacies for leftover doses are among the dating app users who have been able to get a shot before others.

The trend, despite its seemingly-harmless digital nature, is not free from criticism. One of the downsides pointed out is the lack of verification of the information provided. Users could easily lie about their immunisation status online to engage with their matches who deem their interaction ‘safe’. Dating apps do not verify if someone has been immunised or not from their side either. Insider reports that these apps would not be HIPAA-compliant if they shared health information in the US.

However, the trend might signal the initiation of a greater good: winning the war against COVID-19 itself—and anti-vaxxers too. The desirability quotient related with vaccination statuses on these apps might push more users to get vaccinated, creating new dating norms like ‘vaccinate and chill’ in the process. Eagerness to get back onto the dating market additionally helps push the trend in a positive light. Overall, its ultimate benefits seem to outweigh the immediate negatives. So brace yourselves to spot profile bios in the lines of ‘Let’s rub our anti-bodies together’ soon on your favourite dating apps.

Keep On Reading

By Charlie Sawyer

Deepfake videos of Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez used in elaborate Le Creuset online scam

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Andrew Tate says MrBeast’s support of trans friend Kris Tyson is fake and a psyop

By Alma Fabiani

Brothers jailed for recording themselves torturing poor animals in sadistic attacks

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden is the murder suspect standing for re-election in Australia

By Charlie Sawyer

Gwyneth Goes Skiing is a campy delight, plus it’s doing wonders for Gwyneth Paltrow’s PR

By Abby Amoakuh

Shoplifting addiction is at an all-time high. And white middle-class women are to blame

By Charlie Sawyer

Biden’s resistance to ceasefire could alienate gen Z voters and Trump’s Thanksgiving rant

By Charlie Sawyer

What to do if your landlord increases your rent, from negotiating to appealing to a tribunal

By Charlie Sawyer

Introducing Gag City, the AI universe created by Barbz to celebrate Nick Minaj’s album Pink Friday 2

By Charlie Sawyer

Top Captain Holt moments from Brooklyn Nine-Nine that will make us miss Andre Braugher

By Abby Amoakuh

Bride walks out on her own wedding after the groom smashed a cake in her face, and she’s not the first one!

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Tommy Robinson, the far-right anti-Islam activist who was arrested at London’s anti-Semitism march?

By Abby Amoakuh

British homes for British workers: Tory party pushes new controversial housing scheme

By Abby Amoakuh

From the trailer to the cast, here’s everything you need to know about the Love Island all-star series

By Abby Amoakuh

Lesbian couple told by GP to sleep with a man if they want to have a baby

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Woman miraculously comes back to life minutes before her own cremation

By Charlie Sawyer

What is Christian nationalism? The alt-right inspired movement dominating US politics

By Charlie Sawyer

Man partied for four days unaware he had been shot in the head

By Abby Amoakuh

VICE’s attempt to call that viral London pub culture TikTok art is giving high-key millennial cringe

By Charlie Sawyer

How to get Glastonbury 2024 tickets using this tried and tested method