Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Courtney Furlong, 36, had always considered modern dating a hit-or-miss prospect, even before COVID-19 vaccines, masks, and lockdowns turned the world upside down.

Unjected.com founder Shelby Hosana hosts a “pure blood” social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

But today, Ms. Furlong said it’s downright “terrible” trying to find a suitable dating partner who isn’t vaccinated.

Having chosen to avoid taking the COVID-19 shots over concerns about their safety, the Phoenix resident now finds the dating market more restricted and challenging than ever.

She said that many vaccinated people refuse to date the unvaccinated, and vice versa.

“I’m at the age now where I want to have children. My situation now is, who should I have a baby with?” Ms. Furlong said, standing at the vegan bar at The Giving Tree in Phoenix, watching 50 other unvaccinated people mix and mingle on a hot Monday evening.

Who knows? Tonight could be the night she’ll meet her significant other, she said—or at least make new like-minded friends.

“I’m at a place where I’d like to meet someone and have a child,” Ms. Furlong told The Epoch Times. “A huge factor is: Did you get the vaccine or not?”

Sponsored by the dating website Unjected.com, the informal gathering of unvaccinated men and women took place on July 15 at The Giving Tree.

Other social mixers, dubbed “pure blood parties,” are also planned in Canada, New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

“These unvaccinated mixers are starting to pop up everywhere,” said Shelby Hosana, 28, who launched Unjected.com in the spring of 2021 to bring the unvaccinated singles community together.

She said a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status is “the biggest ice-breaker and deal-breaker in the modern dating world.”

And it cuts both ways—vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.

Many online dating sites, such as Tinder, Match, and Bumble, now include COVID-19 badges, stickers, and filters to help singles better navigate the post-pandemic landscape.

“It’s the very first question asked in the dating scene for many,” Ms. Hosana told The Epoch Times. “Especially now that we can anticipate all vaccines on the market will be mRNA. It’s quite literally choosing partners who choose zero vaccination.”

Jill Crosby, owner and founder of Conscious Singles, a dating site “for those who value freedom and sovereignty,” said that unvaccinated singles appear to be more concerned about dating within their group.

Courtney Furlong, 36, stands at the vegan bar during a social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

“Many of our non-vaccinated members will only date other non-vaccinated members,” Ms. Crosby told The Epoch Times.

However, vaccinated members are usually less likely to care whether a potential partner is vaccinated.

In early 2022, a sufficient number of unvaccinated members asked to declare their vaccination status to aid them in finding other unvaccinated members.

Ms. Crosby said Conscious Singles responded by creating unvaccinated and vaccinated badges to post on dating profiles.

“Since then, we’ve had a close to equal number of members post a nonvaccinated or vaccinated badge on their profile,” she said, “and about the same amount of members [about 30 percent] selected ”prefer not to say.”

The dating site also provides multiple-choice “Match Questions” in many categories and recently added, “Will you date someone who has been vaccinated?”

Ms. Hosana said not long ago some dating sites banned profiles that required a person’s vaccination status.

Moreover, the recent data point to a distinct social divide with online dating following the rollout of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for COVID-19 in early 2021.

A July 2022 Pew Research Center survey, found that nearly 25 percent thought it “very important” to include one’s COVID-19 vaccination status in a dating profile.

On the other hand, nearly half (47 percent) said it was “somewhat important” for people to provide their vaccination status, according to the survey.

The survey showed that roughly 9 percent of U.S. adults had used a dating site or app between 2021 and 2022.

More telling was the partisan split in survey responses: According to the report, Democrats were “far more likely” than Republicans to say that vaccination status was “important for them to see.”

In Las Vegas, Ms. Hosana said she was curious to learn about what other people thought about dating and COVID-19 vaccination status.

So she and her marketing director, Scott Armstrong, conducted a random “man on the street” survey that asked people whether they would date a vaccinated or unvaccinated person.

Unjected.com marketing director Scott Armstrong checks in guests during a social mixer for unvaccinated singles in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

“Some [vaccinated] people said they would never date an unvaccinated person—someone as ’stupid’ as an anti-vaxxer,” Ms. Hosana said.

“It’s going both ways,” she said. “They don’t want to be with us. And we really don’t want to be with them.”

“To me, it’s like the first question they ask—did you take the COVID shots?” Mr. Armstrong told The Epoch Times about online dating.

“It’s sad, too,” he said, to think that a man or a woman rejected as a potential dating partner over their vaccination status could have been “the one.”

“It’s tough [but] this is the world we’re living in now,” he said.

And, given the number of vaccinated people versus the unvaccinated, singles who have not taken one or more COVID-19 shots appear to be at a disadvantage, Ms. Hosana said.

According to USAFacts, more than 270 million Americans (81 percent of the U.S. population) have received at least one COVID-19 injection; more than 230 million (70 percent) are considered fully vaccinated.

The website added that of the roughly 1 billion doses distributed since 2020, more than 676 million (68 percent) doses were used nationwide, with almost 64 percent reported as fully vaccinated in Arizona.

As new strains of the virus develop, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people should receive an updated 2024–25 COVID-19 and flu vaccine for the fall and winter seasons.

Among unvaccinated singles, the CDC’s advice falls on unwelcome ears.

Unvaccinated singles Kristen Feuerstein (L) and Melanie Dias attend a social gathering for unvaccinated men and women in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

“It’s a whole new wild navigation in the world,” Ms. Hosana said.

“Of course, the desire to match with someone who also is aligned with protecting personal freedoms is paramount. But the need to protect reproductive health and overall health has been the biggest concern since day one,” she said.

Kristen Feuerstein, 58, and her friend Melanie Dias, 54, are both Phoenix residents who attended the July 15 social mixer hoping to connect with like-minded people.

As unvaccinated health care workers, both women are divorced, single, and currently dating vaccinated men.

Ms. Feuerstein said she is trying to make her relationship work despite her concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and alleged spin-off effects, like spike protein “shedding.”

She said her biggest fear is “investing” in a relationship in which her partner gets sick with the vaccine down the road.

Overall, her COVID-19 vaccination status has “really niched me down” in terms of charting a dating course, she said.

“Such trippy days,” Ms. Feuerstein said. “I’ve actually given up [on internet dating]. It’s just made dating really challenging.”

Ms. Dias said her goal is to seek out other people who are “on the same page” as herself regarding the mRNA vaccines and who “see the world the same as you.”

“At my age, I don’t want to invest time and energy in somebody who’s going to keel over,” she said jokingly.

More than 50 unvaccinated singles attended a gathering at The Giving Tree in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024, to listen to health experts discuss ways to detoxify the body.

The vaccinated man she’s now seeing is someone from her past. During the pandemic, her friend had assured her that he would not be taking the injection.

“We met up again last year,” Ms. Dias told The Epoch Times. “I assumed he didn’t get it. But he didn’t tell me [he received it] until we were already dating”—just “one” shot, she said, “but it was a tough call.”

“It was the only way he could fly into Chicago to visit his family. He visits his family every year. What am I going to say to that? Don’t see your aging parents?” Ms. Dias said.

John Ahlgren, 40, of Phoenix, said his plan at the social mixer was to meet other unvaccinated people and “have a good time.”

“For dating, I don’t know if [taking the vaccine] is a deal-breaker,” he said, “but when I find someone, I want to spend the rest of my life with them.”

“It’s just that the culture has changed. COVID certainly had a part to play in it. Social media has changed the landscape too,” Mr. Ahlgren told The Epoch Times.

Being single, he said he prefers face-to-face “organic engagements” with people and views online dating as a “big waste of time.”

Would you date a vaccinated person?

“Not fully vaxxed,” Mr. Ahlgren said. “Once [vaxxed] twice shy, I guess.”

Mike, 45, of Scottsdale, said he wasn’t expecting to meet the unvaccinated woman of his dreams on July 15, but he was open to the possibility.

Unvaccinated single Bradley Ahlgren said he hoped to meet like-minded people during a social gathering of the unvaccinated in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 15, 2024. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

“That’s what this whole thing is pretty much about,” he said. “It’s about people who don’t want to meet someone vaccinated.”

Ms. Furlong said the natural choice is to be with someone whose morals and values align with her own.

“When I told one of my best friends I wasn’t getting [vaccinated]—he’s had five boosters—well, he said if you don’t get your vaccine, you’re never going to meet my parents,” Ms. Furlong said.

“I feel like I’m the only person out of 20 people in my family who didn’t get injected. My parents said they only did it because they felt pressured.”

Ms. Dias said she intends to “stay present” in her current relationship, as she is a romantic at heart.

“They say it’s better to have loved than not at all—and if a person is really kind—you know what I mean,” she said.