Installing alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers in classrooms may not mean fewer sick days for kids, a New Zealand study has suggested.

The study, published today in the journal PLOS Medicine, found absence rates at schools that installed dispensers in classrooms as part of the survey were similar at those “control” schools which did not.

The research, led by Associate Professor Patricia Priest and University of Otago colleagues, involved 68 schools in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill and nearly 2,500 pupils.

In schools randomly assigned to the “intervention” group, alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers were installed in the classrooms over two winter terms and the children were asked to use the dispensers after coughing or sneezing and on the way out of the classroom for breaks.

Dr Priest emphasizes that the study’s findings were not relevant to the importance of hand hygiene in general, nor did it change the message of cleaning hands before eating or after using the toilet, coughing or touching pets.

In a related story, the USA Today reports that alcohol-based hand sanitizers are better at killing germs and that soap and water is generally the best option but, hand sanitizers come in handy when you aren’t close to a sink.