Updated
Updated · WIRED · Jun 6
Unjected Draws 60 to Nashville Mixer as Anti-Vax Dating Tour Expands to 4 Cities
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Jun 6

Unjected Draws 60 to Nashville Mixer as Anti-Vax Dating Tour Expands to 4 Cities

1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Jun 6

Summary

  • About 60 unvaccinated singles packed a Nashville sports bar for Unjected’s second “Summer of Love” stop, with attendees flying in from New Jersey and Philadelphia and driving from Florida.
  • Unjected says the in-person push answers dating-app fatigue and gives vaccine opponents a place to meet partners who share views on bodily autonomy and what founder Shelby Hosana calls a “pro-freedom” movement.
  • The app, launched in 2021 and removed from Apple’s App Store that year over Covid misinformation rules, returned to Apple and Google stores in fall 2024; it now faces expert criticism that anti-vaccine organizing increases public-health risks.
  • The tour has already stirred backlash: a Denver venue disavowed the planned kickoff, the event moved and still drew more than 150 people, and Hosana later sued the bar for $4 million alleging discrimination and defamation.
  • The gatherings reflect a wider split in dating and politics as vaccine status becomes a values marker, while the US is also seeing renewed spread of vaccine-preventable diseases including measles and whooping cough.

Insights

As dating apps create tribes based on health beliefs, what are the unforeseen consequences for our social fabric?
With preventable diseases like measles surging, where does the line between personal freedom and public safety now lie?
When trust in science erodes, what new strategies can effectively safeguard a nation’s collective health?