White House Is Using Dating Apps to Get People Vaccinated

June 22, 2021

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Dating apps are offering benefits, including free premium services and profile boosts, to vaccinated users.

Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) First COVID-19 Vaccine kit displayed on table

Last month, the Biden administration announced a joint effort by the COVID-19 task force and popular dating apps to encourage people to get their COVID-19 vaccines.

At a press conference, Andy Slavitt, the administration’s pandemic adviser, said “According to… OkCupid, people who display their vaccination status are 14 percent more likely to get a match.”

Premium benefits offered to vaccine recipients

The arrangement involves a number of high-profile dating apps, including Plenty Of Fish, Tinder, Badoo, Hinge, Bumble, and OkCupid.

The apps plan to send notifications on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and give information about where to find doses.

Additionally, users can unlock free premium services by providing proof of their vaccination.

Other dating apps, including Match, Chispa, and BLK, are offering profile boosts to increase the visibility of vaccinated users on their platforms.

In the coming weeks, users will also be able to display a “fully vaccinated” status.

Vaccination rate rapidly decreasing

While some balk at the idea of the government working with sexually related services like dating apps, it is undeniable that the decreasing vaccination rate is a serious issue.

And what better way to encourage vaccination than to increase datability?

Image source: NavyMedicine

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.