Measles case occurred despite Sudbury's high vaccination rate

A recent case of measles in Sudbury has re-opened the debate over whether to vaccinate children against communicable diseases like this one.

The city's health unit says this is the first confirmed instance of the virus in the city in 17 years.

Nurse practitioner Roger Pilon said parents should be making sure their children's vaccinations are up-to-date.

“The research has demonstrated that the efficacy of the vaccine, or the efficiency, is around 85 per cent and, with the second dose, it rises to around 95 per cent."

Pilon said the first shot should be given to children at around 12 months of age, with the booster at 18 months of age.

But there are some who believe there's not enough evidence to prove vaccinations help everyone.

"When I asked doctors about what was in the vaccines and, you know safety studies and all that, they didn't have a lot of information either, so I thought I'd hold off and do a little research on my own,” said Manon Larose, a mom and homeopath in Sudbury.

Three of her children are vaccinated, and three are not.

She said she made the choice she thought was right.

"That's our main responsibility as a parent, is to make the right decision for our kids based on what we know."

Pilon said there are likely two main reasons for the re-emergence of the disease.

"Some immunization rates are going down and there's more air travel, perhaps, so I think there's more chance of these diseases spreading more easily,” he said.

He noted that, if parents are just vaccinating their children now, the vaccination takes a few weeks to come into effect.

Sudbury has one of the highest immunization rates in Ontario. The health unit reports 96 per cent of school-age children are vaccinated.