A contentious bill that would end Connecticut's long-standing religious exemption from immunization requirements for schools, beginning with the 2022-23 school year, now awaits action in the state Senate.

The Connecticut House of Representatives on Monday was expected to pass a contentious bill that would end the state's long-standing religious exemption from immunization requirements for schools, beginning with the 2022 school year.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — More than 1,000 people have called into Louisiana's coronavirus vaccine hotline since it launched a week ago, and one-third of those callers have signed up for vaccination appointments, according to state health department data released Wednesday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — European countries diverged Wednesday on whether they would push ahead with giving their residents Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after reports of very rare blood clots in a handful of recipients in the United States.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac will donate 50,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL in a bid to protect players for upcoming tournaments.

CONMEBOL announced Tuesday that the jabs will be used to inoculate players ahead of the Copa America in June and for other regional tournaments.

HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has issued an executive order banning the development or use of vaccine passports in Montana.

Vaccine passports are documents that could be used to verify coronavirus immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were lower on Monday, as investors grew wary over the recent surge in coronavirus cases in many places while vaccination efforts are making scant headway.

Shares fell in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney.

The declines followed a strong end last week on Wall Street, where gains in technology and health cares stocks pushed the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh record highs.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s top disease control official, in a rare acknowledgement, said current vaccines offer low protection against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness.

China has distributed hundreds of millions of doses of domestically made vaccines abroad and is relying on them for its own mass immunization campaign.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices.

After months of hoping to receive a COVID-19 immunization and then weeks of fighting the illness after one never came, Air Force veteran Diane Drewes was down to her last few breaths at a hospice center in Ohio when the phone rang. It was a health care worker, calling to schedule her first appointment for a coronavirus shot.

JERUSALEM (AP) — After spending much of the past year in lockdown, Tel Aviv makeup artist Artyom Kavnatsky was ready to get back to work. But when he showed up for a recent photo shoot, his employer turned him away. The reason? He had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“He didn’t take me because I didn’t get vaccinated,” Kavnatsky said. “It’s discrimination, and it’s not all right."

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin was vaccinated against COVID-19 Tuesday out of sight of the cameras, his spokesman said, prompting questions about whether the gesture will boost comparatively low immunization rates in Russia.

Dmitry Peskov said Putin is feeling fine after getting the shot and is planning a regular workday Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees and Mets will be allowed to start the season with a maximum 20% capacity.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at a news conference Thursday that the Yankees could have up to 10,850 fans for their April 1 opener against Toronto at Yankee Stadium and the Mets could have up to 8,384 for their April 8 home opener against Miami at Citi Field.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian state governors are pursuing their own vaccine supply plans, with some expressing concern that President Jair Bolsonaro's government won't deliver the shots required to avoid interrupting immunization efforts.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India started inoculating health workers Saturday in what is likely the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign, joining the ranks of wealthier nations where the effort is already well underway.

India is home to the world’s largest vaccine makers and has one of the biggest immunization programs. But there is no playbook for the enormity of the current challenge.