All Alaska Industrial Hardware employees will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The vaccine mandate is due to a policy implemented by AIH s parent company, Bering Straits Native Corporation, which purchased AIH in 2015.
BSNC Spokesperson Miriam Aarons explained that the organizationâs decision to require vaccines is grounded in culture and history.
âAs a company owned by Alaska Native shareholders and dedicated to improving the lives and preserving the culture and heritage of our people, BSNC is deeply concerned about the disproportionate toll Covid-19 is taking on Native communities, particularly our elders,â Aarons said. BSNC is headquartered in Nome, on the Seward Peninsula, a region that was devastated by the 1918 influenza pandemic. But unlike the 1918 pandemic, â . severe illness and death from Covid-19 can be prevented,â reads a statement on the BSNC website.
Print article The calls for a boycott started as soon as word got out last month that Alaska Industrial Hardware was requiring workers get vaccinated for COVID-19. The business is a fully owned subsidiary of Bering Straits Native Corp., where the board of directors in mid-March voted to mandate vaccinate for all employees unless they are approved for medical or religious exemptions. Officials say the board’s decision reflected the disproportionate toll the virus is taking on Alaska Native people, particularly elders. AIH employs 200 people in eight locations across the state four in Anchorage and Eagle River that sell everything from work gloves and Xtratuf boots to air compressors and power tools.