A Macon pharmacy is making hand sanitizer to combat coronavirus shortage

A local pharmacy in Macon decided to start producing a product that is hard to come by these days: hand sanitizer.

Matthew Frazier, pharmacist and owner at Your Corner Drugstore, said they have started to produce gallons of hand sanitizer in their recently updated compounding laboratory.

“We have ramped up our production. I’ve started making a small batch, got my formula down pat, and we’re about to start making it in five gallon buckets here shortly,” Frazier said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States and Georgia, supplies, such as cleaning products, masks and gloves, started to dwindle.

“I can’t even get alcohol swabs, much less alcohol in a bottle,” Frazier said about purchasing products from his supplier.

Because Your Corner Drugstore had the proper equipment to manufacture hand sanitizer, Frazier said he wanted to help fill the need.

“Obviously, we saw a need in the community,” he said. “We figured we would try to help close the loop in that demand.”

He partnered with Macon Beverage Outlet to purchase grain alcohol, a purified form of ethanol, Frazier said. The liquor store owner bought all of the grain alcohol he could from his supplier and sold it to Frazier at a discount so that he could sell the hand sanitizer at a lower cost, he said.

Frazier produced a gel and combined it with the 190 proof alcohol to create a 70% alcohol hand sanitizer, he said.

He has received orders as far out as Seattle, Washington, because his cousin has a retail store out there and cannot find any hand sanitizer to sell.

“I’d like to see if I could get the community involved so we could set up some sort of GoFundMe account… so we could donate some of this to the less fortunate,” Frazier said.

Once they have set up a place for people to donate, he said they could start providing hand sanitizer to homeless shelters and women’s shelters.

To place an order for hand sanitizer, call Your Corner Drugstore at (478) 254-8484 or visit them at 4260 Log Cabin Drive, Ste C. For more information about the pharmacy’s GoFundMe page, people can follow the drugstore on Facebook.