Anti-vax dating apps bring gatherings into real life

Anti-vax dating – Unjected is hosting anti-vaccination singles at in-person mixers as dating apps lean toward IRL events. Organizers and members describe it as a “pro-freedom” movement, while critics point to the wider consequences of vaccine skepticism. The shift from app-only

On a recent Monday night in Nashville, a crowd of 60 anti-vaxxers packed into the upstairs dining area of Jonathan’s Grille. For Scott Armstrong, the moment carried a familiar charge of pride and frustration at the same time.

Armstrong says he was once let go from his job as a drug and alcohol counselor after refusing to get vaccinated. Now, unvaccinated people were flying in and driving in from across the country to meet others like them. One woman arrived from New Jersey, another from Philadelphia. A group drove up from Florida to attend a mixer hosted by Unjected.

The event was part of Unjected’s four-city “Summer of Love” tour, aimed at singles who oppose the Covid-19 vaccine. Unjected describes itself on its website as “built on creating health-conscious relationships.” Armstrong. who now owns a video production company and helped organize the night’s meetup. framed the gatherings as a response to the hostility he says still follows his beliefs.

“We’re still some of the most persecuted people in society right now,” Armstrong told WIRED. “People still express this absolute hatred for us and for our beliefs in natural health. It just continues to encourage us to host these meetups.”

The move to in-person meetups is showing up elsewhere in the dating world too—at a time when apps are looking for signs of fresh momentum. The ticketing platform Eventbrite reports that IRL dating events have been on the rise since 2025. This year, Tinder—during a rebrand—announced it was investing in member meet-ups.

But for singles in the anti-vax community, the offline events aren’t just about escaping app fatigue. They’re about connecting with people who—above all—believe in bodily autonomy, and who may become future partners.

Unjected is one of several apps and platforms aimed at that audience. Others include Unjabbed, NoVax.Singles, and Unjuiced.Date. There’s also a Reddit-style dating and community site called Unjabbed.net, with members spread across the US and Europe.

PureBlood.Dating takes a different approach, operating like a social club. It launched earlier this year with a street marketing campaign in San Francisco. posting flyers designed to pull people toward its website. The flyers urged people to sign up for notifications if they wanted to join a “community for unvaccinated singles to connect at real. in-person events.”.

Shelby Hosana, the 32-year-old founder of Unjected, describes the movement in broader terms than just opposition to one vaccine.

“This is really a pro-freedom movement. It’s not just an anti-vaccination movement,” Hosana said. “Whatever goes in your body and whatever you do with your body is 100 percent your choice.”

Unjected, designed specifically for people against the Covid vaccine, also says on its site that it is against all vaccinations. Members are said to operate on an honor system, but the app offers a premium tier called “Unjected Verfied,” where users attest to their unvaccinated status by affidavit.

The platform has also faced enforcement challenges before. In 2021—the same year it launched—Unjected was removed from the Apple App Store for violating Covid misinformation policies. The app was later reaccepted into the App Store and uploaded onto Google Play in fall 2024. Hosana attributes that turnaround to what she calls “the timing in the world.”.

Hosana points to timing that, in her view, aligned with politics as well as platform rules. Donald Trump, who had previously promoted the myth that childhood vaccines were linked to autism, won reelection in November.

Vaccine science, however, has continued to find vaccines safe. Covid and other vaccines have been proven safe through rigorous trials and years of research. Before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a known vaccine skeptic. took over the US Department of Health and Human Services. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reflected those realities. The CDC says recommendations are updated when warranted by new scientific research and are monitored by the Food and Drug Administration. which collaborates with government and non-government partners to guarantee vaccine safety.

The human impact of lower uptake is increasingly visible through the diseases vaccines are meant to prevent. With the Trump administration weakening vaccine policies and more Americans opting out. the US has seen a rise in the incidence of diseases that were largely stamped out. Multiple recent reports say fatal illnesses that many vaccines protect against are again on the rise in the US. including measles. whooping cough. tuberculosis. and various bacterial infections.

By the time the crowd in Nashville settled into its upstairs space. the story was already clear: for organizers like Armstrong. the app-to-IRL shift isn’t a side quest. It’s the point. In a country where vaccination has become a flashpoint. meeting people in person turns an online belief system into a real-world community—one night at a time.

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