Dating Apps Play Up COVID, User Mention of Vaccines in Bios Spikes

Getting vaccinated -- or at least a willingness to -- might be the key to love in the 21st century ... because it's apparently all the rage on dating apps these days.

Reps for Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid have all recently said they're seeing a major uptick in how many times their users are mentioning the words "vaccine" or "vaccinated' in their bios, not to mention how many are using vaccination readiness as a screener for matches.

Tinder says the number of times "vaccine" has been mentioned in user bios has risen as much as 258% between the months of September and December ... including casual mention of it, like ... "if you believe in the 5-second rule...don't worry about what's in the vaccine."

Bumble says it's seen a "steady increase" in how often "vaccine" is mentioned in bios, and OkCupid says those who indicate they've already gotten vaccinated or willing to are being liked at double the rate of people who openly say they're not interested in getting it.

OkCupid has also tailored its profile questionnaire to cater to the pandemic, with questions about what one might consider an ideal lock-down date, etc. Bumble has similar filters.

Here's the thing though ... there's a big chance that the people being mentioned here are simply TALKING about vaccines, as opposed to actually being vaccinated -- assuming we're talking about 20-somethings, who make up the biggest group of users on these apps.

Unless you work in healthcare or education as a 20-something, you're probably not vaccinated yet -- as it isn't available for that age group. For now ... frontline workers, essential workers and the elderly have priority, and who are supposed to be getting it first.