Hand sanitizer is not meant to replace handwashing.

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Washing your hands in a sink even with water alone and no soap cleans your hands better than hand sanitizer.

Hand sanitizer is useful for situations where people don't have easy access to a sink, but it is not meant to replace handwashing. It is always best to wash your hands in a sink. It is better than using hand sanitizer.

Yeah, hand sanitizers definitely do not replace a proper handwashing with soap procedure.

But sanitizer is good to have when you're somewhere you can't just wash your hands with soap. Like when I get in the car with my mother after I've been out shopping. I can wash my hands after I get home.

I've never used hand sanitiser and hope I never have to. Soap and water is better time-tested for safety and is often more effective. Using sanitiser carries some risk of dermatitis especially if used a lot, and the higher the alcohol content, the greater the risk, and (unfortunately) the lower the alcohol content, the lower the effectiveness of the sanitiser. There's also a fire risk, and a risk of poisoning especially to children and alcoholics.

I don't know of any situations I'm likely to be in where, for health and safety reasons, I'd need to do anything other than wash my hands with soap and water. I suppose it could happen to employees if their bosses didn't want them "wasting time" by going to the nearest wash basin (I accept that the bosses may be right if for example a medical worker had to do certain things in an emergency situation). But I'm not planning to work for an employer. And I guess it's impossible to get out of some public toilets without having to touch a door handle, which might be an issue in the case of some really severe risk of bacterial or viral contamination.

I think in most instances it's a case of convenience winning out - either to the individual or to the employer. But it's probably no big issue as long as it's not overdone.

Incidentally, Covid is quickly destroyed by soap.