LISBON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Over 10,500 people in Portugal have signed a petition defending compulsory vaccinations amid a measles epidemic.
The petition, signed by doctors and health professionals, defended that it is "increasingly important to alert people the need to vaccinate their children" after a teenager was killed last week from pneumonia, after contracting measles, local media reported on Wednesday.
"As a matter of public health we do not want a civilisational regression in medical developments," the signatories appealed.
Portugal's health authorities have also warned of the need for parents to vaccinate their children "without hesitation," after the country registered around 23 cases of measles since the beginning of the year.
The authorities also advised schools to ban members who refused to be vaccinated after being exposed to the virus for a period of 21 days.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease, which affects mostly children, according to the World Health Organization, and it can cause serious complications.
