Rothbard’s property rights framework emphasizes absolute self-ownership and private property rights as the foundation of a free society. Under this framework, individuals have exclusive control over their own bodies and property, and no external authority—state or otherwise—may justly compel them to act against their will, especially when such compulsion involves bodily intrusion.
Applying Rothbard’s logic, vaccine mandates constitute a violation of self-ownership because they coercively impose medical interventions on individuals, thereby infringing on their right to control their own bodies.
In this context, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s push to eliminate all state vaccine mandates aligns with those principles by rejecting state enforced medical compliance. This aligns with Rothbard’s view that the state has no legitimate claim over individual bodily autonomy. By framing vaccination as a personal choice rather than a collective obligation, the policy shift reflects Rothbard’s assertion that no person or government may use force to impose health decisions on others, even for purported public health benefits.
Furthermore, Rothbard’s critique of state intervention as inherently illegitimate supports the dismantling of institutional mandates in schools, workplaces, and healthcare facilities. If property rights are fully respected, private institutions, not the state, would set vaccination policies for their premises, allowing individuals to voluntarily associate or disassociate based on those rules.
Florida’s move aims to restore decision making power to individuals and private entities, consistent with a decentralized, consent-based social arrangement.
In line with libertarian principles, as long as no direct aggression is initiated by an unvaccinated individual, the state lacks the moral authority to preemptively enforce vaccination of any kind, making Florida’s policy direction a practical application of radical property rights theory.
