I'm in North East PA and we have alot of deer ticks here and Lyme desease in dogs is common, but I choose not to use the vaccine for a few reasons.
The vaccine is not 100% effective (I think something around 80%)and I try to do really minimal vaccinating. You will have to repeat it every 6 months or annualy (depending on whether your vet used intranasal or injection).
Is use Frontmine Plus every 28 days during tick season and if the dogs are going to be going somewhere with a higher risk of picking on up, I also put a Virbac Tick Collar on them (it's completely safe to use in combination with Frontline)
IF I didn't have cats, I would probably use Advantix instead since it repels them as well as kill, but that's too risky since my cat plays with the dogs.
I check them carefully daily, and since using the collar (when we're camping mainly) I haven't seen one on them.
If they do happen to have one attach, the Frontline (if administered properly and timely) kills it before it can transmit any disease.
***Here's the big one - ticks can transmit 4 different deseases to dogs - the other one that is prevailant in my area is Ehrlichiosis and as far as I know, there's no vaccine for that.
Since Lyme isn't the only tick carried desease to worry about, I feel that prevention and monitoring are necessary anyway.
I get them tested for Lyme annually and if it's caught quickly (luckily
never personally had a dx in any of my dogs), it's actually not difficult to treat - but if a dog does contract it, they should continue to be tested annualy since this is not a desease that will necessarily "go away" completely, the levels of it are just highly reduced, sometimes to the point of disapearing by a round of Doxycycline.
www.virbacvet.com Here's a link to the collar I use when we go camping in addition to the Frontline. Alot of vets sell it, but you can usually pick it up at most pet stores.