As coronavirus cases continue to rise in the U.S., the Biden administration has begun vaccinating people detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot. Around 20,000 people in ICE custody have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, with nine confirmed deaths.

The White House is hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week. Ahead of her visit, a group of Democratic lawmakers have requested a meeting with the leader and are calling on Germany to drop its “blockade” of a WTO waiver on intellectual property rights around COVID vaccines. Protesters held actions across the country urging Merkel to back the waiver.

Tennessee’s top vaccine official, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, says she was fired after telling health providers that teens do not require parental consent to receive a COVID vaccine. The move, which is supported by state law and decades of medical practice, angered anti-science Republican lawmakers, who have also halted outreach efforts on the vaccine for teens and children.

Elsewhere, Russia recorded 780 fatalities Tuesday, its highest daily COVID death toll yet as the Delta variant rapidly spreads.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the death toll from a massive blaze at a coronavirus hospital ward has risen to 92.