@article {Blunden71, author = {Charlie T Blunden}, title = {Libertarianism and collective action: is there a libertarian case for mandatory vaccination?}, volume = {45}, number = {1}, pages = {71--74}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.1136/medethics-2018-104752}, publisher = {Institute of Medical Ethics}, abstract = {In his paper {\textquoteleft}A libertarian case for mandatory vaccination{\textquoteright}, Jason Brennan argues that even libertarians, who are very averse to coercive measures, should support mandatory vaccination to combat the harmful disease outbreaks that can be caused by non-vaccination. He argues that libertarians should accept the clean hands principle, which would justify mandatory vaccination. The principle states that there is a (sometimes enforceable) moral obligation not to participate in collectively harmful activities. Once libertarians accept the principle, they will be compelled to support mandatory vaccination. In my paper, I argue that the cases Brennan uses to justify this principle are disanalogous to the case of non-vaccination and that they are not compelling to libertarians. The cases Brennan offers can be explained by a libertarian using the individual sufficiency principle: which states that if an individual{\textquoteright}s action is sufficient to cause harm, then there is a (sometimes enforceable) moral obligation not to carry out that action. I argue that this principle is more appropriate to Brennan{\textquoteright}s examples, and more appealing to the libertarian, than the clean hands principle. In order to get libertarians to accept the clean hands principle, I present a modified version of one of Brennan{\textquoteright}s cases that is analogous to the case of non-vaccination. Using this case, I argue that whether the clean hands principle will justify mandatory vaccination is dependent on whether the herd immunity rate in a given population is approaching a threshold after which a collective risk of harm will be imposed onto others.}, issn = {0306-6800}, URL = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/45/1/71}, eprint = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/45/1/71.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Medical Ethics} }