Derrick Sim

Effective 1 July 2022, Dr Derrick Sim is Acting Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility. In this role, he is leading the coordination of procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for 193 participating economies through COVAX, the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both high-income and lower-income countries.

Until his appointment as Acting Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, Derrick served as Gavi’s Director of Vaccine Supply & Demand, leading the Market Shaping team to build healthy markets for sustainable and equitable access to vaccines for lower-income countries. He also led the COVAX Facility’s Deals Team in securing COVID-19 vaccines for equitable distribution – to date, COVAX has shipped more than 1.5 billion doses to 146 economies. Derrick has over 18 years’ experience in the vaccines industry, having managed their commercialisation, launch and development at global and regional levels.

Prior to joining Gavi, Derrick led GlaxoSmithKline’s global business for several vaccines from London and Brussels. He has experience working with policymakers and governments, including those in the Asia Pacific region during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, on their national vaccine programmes. His understanding of the challenges faced by low- and middle-income communities in accessing health care has been shaped by several years working in Manila, where he introduced several initiatives to increase access to vaccines. There, Derrick also contributed to the launch of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to protect against cervical cancer; and phase 3 clinical development and licensure of the rotavirus vaccine.

Derrick began his professional life at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, as a medical doctor, where his interest in vaccines was ignited after being involved in phase 2 and 3 clinical research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Derrick gained his medical degree from Monash University and holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.