When hand sanitizer was in short supply in March, hundreds of distilleries entered the market and made it themselves. To do this, they had to register as drug makers, who have to pay government usage fees every year.
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, charged each distillery with a $ 15,000 fine, according to a senior HHS official.
But the department rescinded the fine on Thursday, claiming it was charged from distilleries by mistake.
“Small businesses that came forward to fight Covid-19 should be applauded by their government, not taxed for that. I am pleased to announce that we have instructed the FDA to cease the application of these arbitrary and unexpected user fees,” Brian Harrison , HHS ‘chief of staff, said in a statement.
“Happy New Year, distilleries and congratulations on helping to keep us safe!” he added.
Harrison said the distilleries were charged “by mistake” and that the fees were not released by HHS leadership.
“Many of them are small businesses, artisanal distilleries, and their businesses and livelihoods were undermined when restaurants closed,” he said. “But they joined the fray and joined the fight against Covid. It was nothing short of heroic. They are American heroes.”
With the start of the pandemic earlier this year, the supply of hand sanitizer has declined as people have stocked it to try to repel the coronavirus.
To meet the increased demand, some distillers started using alcohol at their facilities to create their own alcohol-based solutions. Some packed in small bottles, while others encouraged people to bring their own containers for refills.
“Due to recent reports of outages and low supply in our community, we decided to provide hand sanitizer for free to those in need. Made with aloe vera gel and 95% ethanol,” one of these companies, Old Fourth Distillery in Atlanta, said in time.