The White House COVID-19 response team gets extra "loving" to encourage more people to get vaccinated.
According to recent reports, the White House has hooked up with several dating apps to provide perks and other matching benefits to its vaccinated users.
White House COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy: It's a Match!
The White House hopes that partnering with dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, MLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Match, Bumble and Badoo will encourage its 50 million users across those platforms to get vaccinated, Tech Crunch noted.
Vaccinated users has been promised to get several perks and freebies "like boosts, super likes and super swipes," according to the White House. Users can also filter through potential matches by vaccination status, CNN added.
Moreover, users will be able to access vaccination site resources from Vaccine.gov, allowing them to book their vaccination appointments through the apps.
A bunch of dating apps are announcing today that they're adding vaccination stickers to their platform, for users to be able to signal their vaccination status, per the White House. Some are also including in-app links to find a vaccination clinic. pic.twitter.com/iP1y6RtMPk
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) May 21, 2021
Tinder users who add a sticker promoting their vaccination status from June 2 to July 4 will be gifted a free Super Like. On OkCupid, BLK, and Chispa, vaccinated users will receive a free boost, allowing their profile to be promoted to potential matches. Other apps are also giving premium perks to give their users a competitive edge over non-vaccinated users.
"According to research from OKCupid, people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated receive 14% more Matches than people who don't plan to get vaccinated," the White House noted in a fact sheet given to reporters during an event onn Friday, per CNN.
COVID-19 Vaccine: Biden Administration's Goals
The original goal of 100 million shots administered in the first 100 days of President Joe Biden's presidency was surpassed, even doubling that goal by the 100th day in office. The numbers have plateaued since their peak in April. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention data showed it declining nearly 50 percent.
Currently, more than 160 million or 48 percent of the U.S. population have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines and almost 127 million or 38 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, as per the CDC data.
The White House earlier partnered with NASCAR, country music organizations, and rural campaigns to push Americans to roll their sleeves up and get vaccinated. Ad campaigns to Black and Latina Americans and partnerships with social media companies like Facebook aimed at reaching hard-hit and at-risk communities were also rolled out, CNN said.
States like Ohio, New York and Maryland have also offered lottery drawings to get their residents to get vaccinated. Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft have also joined promotional efforts, offering free rides to and from vaccination sites.
This current effort is part of the White House's push to get 70 percent of adults vaccinated by the Fourth of July. CDC data revealed that 60.5 percent of the adult population is vaccinated.
