Tinder, OKCupid, Match, other dating sites will give a bump to users who get vaccinated


States and local entities are offering all sorts of incentives to get inoculated against COVID-19 — beer, food, lottery tickets, dinner with New Jersey's governor — as vaccination rates plateau or decline across much of the U.S. The White House is looking to leverage love — or at least libido — to boost vaccination rates.
In a collaboration announced Friday, the White House and nine dating sites under the Match Group umbrella are launching a campaign to boost dating customers who get vaccinated, are already vaccinated — or maybe just say the are vaccinated. Details "will be available in the coming weeks," the Match Group said.
The nine sites — Tinder, OKCupid, Match, Bumble, Hinge, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, and Badoo — will offer various ways of making people with vaccine-related badges or profile markers more attractive to prospective dates. The various sites will launch their campaigns soon and run them through July 4, the date at which President Biden wants 70 percent of all adults to be at least partially vaccinated. Proof of vaccination will get love-seekers "like boosts, super likes, and super swipes," the White House said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The dating apps and White House say they are just following current market forces. "According to research from OKCupid, people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated receive 14 percent more Matches than people who don't plan to get vaccinated," the White House said in a fact sheet.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everything
Feature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
By The Week US
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US