Anti-vaxxers are a tiny, tiny part of the herd that can easily be segregated. Estimated 30% of the US population owns a gun, that's a damn big part of the 'herd'.
Again, most people didn't 'agree' to this. There's so much shit that happens behind closed doors in the US govt, or gets twisted by the time it gets out. How about the fact we put HFCS in *everything* to include goddamn catfood and fruit juice, because of corn subsidies? You have to make sure you understand that saying 'americans voted this in' does us shit-all good when it comes in as riders on govt funding bills that cannot be rejected because you end up with a complete govt stoppage otherwise. *I* didn't vote on food policies in the US, none of us did, we voted in someone that was trusted to be competent (or possibly completely unknown aside from R or D), and they got bought, that's all there is to it. Also bear in mind most of these decisions were made decades ago. The food pyramid was developed in 1972 and has probably done more damaged to American health than all the guns, alcohol, co2, and nicotine combined.
Yep, ounce prevention is worth a pound of correction, but we're already in the shit. There's no 'preventing' the catastrophe of gun violence, toddler shootings, obesity, drunk driving, smoking, or global warming. We're in the thick of it, and the best we can do is roll back as much as we can, where we can. Heavy taxation (and thus financial 'encouragement') of certain vices is a solid starting point, maybe after education.