why aren't the antibc hand gel manufacturers producing any?

[anyname147]

why the hell has the world's supply of hand sanitiser dried up? It's just three ingredients for gods sake and probably with an endless shelf life. Why cant the manufacturers get any out to the shops? Does it take years to make or something? A delay of a few days or even weeks is understandable but it it's months now. If a journalist is reading this can you please investigate how much longer the stores will have to wait to receive more supplies?

Part of the trouble is that much is made and supplied on a "just in time basis". The supermarkets do not seem to have any reserve stock in the back room and seem to have no way to increase orders quickly. My Tescos locally have no paracetamol and have not had any for a week so it's not just a case of waiting till the next day. They have no idea when any will arrive. My local pharmacy has plenty.

@anyname147

I'm not in the UK, we are a bit ahead of you in covid terms, but I'm pleased to say the shops have loads of toilet paper now. Still not much hand sanitiser around.

Hear the answer to this on the news recently.

One manufacturer. In dec they sold 100,000 x 50ml bottles per month. In January it was 100,000 per week and now it is more than 100,000 per day.
They are struggling to keep up with demand because:

1. they are going at full speed, staff, machines, etc is all at capacity.
2. there is a shortage of the correct alcohol, their supplies can't keep up with the demand.
3. They cannot get the caps for the little bottles. They can get the bottles but the supplier can't get them any more caps.

In the light of this, I think we need to think about essential workers (who would put factory workers on an essentials list?)
Also, he made the comment, that if we all refilled our bottles, then schools/etc could have large 5 litre ones available for refills, and then he could get more supply out, as he has the large lids, but not the smaller ones.

@DirtyDancing any chance of sharing the website please?

Soap is better as it’s a slippery little fatty lipid that needs breaking down. If you can use hot water as well even better.

I buy for my business but the supplier cannot get the raw materials to make the product.

@DirtyDancing i was wondering the same thing

We all need to be buying bigger bottles of hand gel (and everything else) and then decanting into smaller bottles, which then cease to become single use bottles. Less plastic and wastage all round.

FFS we all need to stop buying hand sanitiser - UNLESS YOU CANT GET TO WATER.

Soap and water do the job - hand sanitiser is unnecessary for the vast majority of the population.

Of course there are people who DO need it as they don't have access to running water and soap regularly but they are a minority and should be prioritised.

I think the problem is people can't buy any bottles of hand gel, big or small.

yeah it's totally bad karma to nick it from doctors surgeries, hospitals, pharmacies etc. But anyone would like we are waiting on the elixir of life or moon dust. It's just ethanol, hydrogen peroxide and a base gel like aloe vera. Seriously surprised that we have been waiting for months for supplies to come in

My friend works as a radiologist (I think that's what it's called) in a cancer unit and members of the public have been stealing the hand gel. Obviously they are dealing with severely immuno compromised people and selfish f*ckers are stealing the gel..

Why not use soap and water?

People have been out there buying it since early February. As soon as it's come into the shops, it's been selling. It's unprecedented demand and only so much can be produced. Any surplus stock has been sold, so as said before anything that comes out is in small amounts and being bought immediately. Also, guessing NHS, care homes and any company who always has the needed to buy on a regular preference, will be first in the queue.

As for bottles, refil the bottles by offering the hand gel to shops that do refilling?

They are producing it. It's the nitwits buying it instead of soap who are causing the problems.

The name anti-bac is a bit of a clue that it doesn't work on viruses (and yes I know the ones with the higher alcohol content do, but that's not the point, washing your hands properly is more effective and won't cause antibiotic resistance, either).

Little plastic bottles are bad anyway. Use bars of soap.

2 parts isopropyl alcohol + 1 part aloe vera gel.

But soap and water is 100 times better. Antibac gel is flying off the shelves, but there's plenty of soap in the soap aisle. At least where I live.

I also wonder if some of the packaging might be imported. So if the plastic components were to come from China, the reduced production over there would impact on how much material can be packaged and released on to the market here.

Gods sake last month we were "being kind" now its steal from hospitals and cancer patients !

It’s pretty basic supply and demand really. They produce enough to fullfill the needs of the market. Would do some forecasting for the months /years ahead and produce x amount. Then something like this happens and the company hasn’t predicted such a spike in demand. They still only have x number of machines and employees, they can’t work around the clock (health and safety of staff) and they also would need the supplies and ingredients which would have the same Situation. Then there isn’t an infinite number of shipping options . Just keeps knocking on!

I don’t think refilling would work because the bottles might be contaminated so they shouldn’t be handled by lots of people unless they are properly disinfected first.
The virus may survive up to 3 days on plastic surfaces.

We're in a war. Government needs to step in and coordinate production and distribution of essentials: gel, masks, PPE for healthcare workers, ventilators. Production 24 hour a day, like in WW2 production of fighter aircraft and munitions.

I read an article about a company in the USA that made surgical masks. Most masks are imported: theirs were slightly more expensive so their market was limited because everyone wants the cheapest, don't they?

Then SARS happened, there was a shortage of surgical masks and people suddenly turned to them. They employed people to keep the place going 24/7 and churned out as many as they could. They laid in extra machinery and equipment, which cost them serious money. They didn't raise their prices or try to profiteer. Within a few weeks SARS was over and cheaper masks became available again and everyone went back to the old suppliers. The US company found themselves struggling with debt. This time round they're not going to make that mistake again.

Same principal applies to hand sanitiser.

Refilling would work if you were doing it at home, surely. I use it when I commute. I need to hold onto rails and the like, and I then use it when I sit down. I have some for the time being, but it is starting to run low.

I've been looking at bigger bottles on Amazon etc. They are there, and they are expensive, but you can't really be sure what you are getting. Some bottles look like they could be anything with a home printed label stuck on!

Anyway, I don't have to commute for a few weeks, so maybe it will all calm down or more stocks will become available.

There's absolutely no difference between hot and cold water in terms of hand washing.

For water to be hot enough to kill germs you would have to boil your hands for over 10 minutes. And then you would have much bigger problems!

Use a comfortable warm temperature as it will make it easier and more pleasant to wash your hands for over 20 seconds. That's the only benefit.