But some online daters and others involved in the industry said they doubted that the option to add a vaccination sticker on Tinder or Bumble was going to move the needle for many people. Daters choosing not to get vaccinated are likely to live around others who feel similarly, eliminating pressure from their dating pools’ profiles to get the shots, said Meredith Golden, a dating expert and founder of the Darma dating app.
In places with high vaccine uptake, indicating vaccination status tended to make a person more desirable on dating sites in the months when demand outpaced supply. Now, Golden said, most people in high immunization areas assume others are vaccinated and no longer mention their inoculations when they make new profiles.
Golden said the free premium features, like “boosts” that enable more people to see a profile, also probably will not make a dent in vaccine-hesitant people’s desire for the shots. She added that some people lie on dating apps and might not be honest about their vaccination status. The dating sites do not plan to verify the self-reported information.
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