Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains for sanitization products. Since the spread of germs and viruses, including the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, can be reduced by using disinfectants, the demand for sanitizers has dramatically increased, leading to supply shortages. The focus of this paper is to identify the legal statuses and manufacturing capacities of breweries and distilleries in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, and this industry's response to the pandemic through supplying alcohol. We identify and compare the responses from each country and successful solutions to resolve the shortages. We mainly focus on how distilleries and breweries have adapted their production lines to produce disinfectants. This paper includes what the responses were and how changes were made. Our research has shown what measures the United States can adopt and how to move forward with meeting the demand based on successful case studies from Europe.