New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she is not budging on a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and vowed to those who do not get the shot by the September 27 deadline that 'we will be replacing people.' Hochul reiterated her hardened stance even as some hospitals face staff shortages and a lawsuit was launched by 17 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who say New York's requirement violates their constitutional rights in various ways. 'To all the healthcare providers, doctors and nurses in particular who are vaccinated, I say thank you. Because you are keeping true to your oath,' Hochul told WHAM-TV during a visit to Rochester on Wednesday. 'To those who won't, we will be replacing people.' New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she is not budging on a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and vowed to those who do not get the shot by the September 27 deadline that 'we will be replacing people.' U.S. District Judge David Hurd in Utica, in a written order, said he was blocking the mandate from taking effect on September 27 because it does not allow for exemptions based on workers' religious beliefs Hochul's comments come one week after the lawsuit by a group of Christian healthcare workers who say they object to receiving the vaccines because the cell lines of aborted fetuses were used in their testing and development. U.S. District Judge David Hurd in Utica, in a written order, said he was blocking the mandate from taking effect on September 27 because it does not allow for exemptions based on workers' religious beliefs. In response to the lawsuit, Hochul said Wednesday she's not aware of any major religious group that prohibits followers from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. 'Everyone from the Pope on down is encouraging people to get vaccinated,' she said. A lawsuit was filed Monday by 17 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who say New York's requirement violates their constitutional rights in various ways Healthcare workers wearing masks stand in front of a COVID-19 testing booth in Times Square on August 31, 2021 in New York City. Hurd gave the state until September 22 to respond to the lawsuit, and said he will hold a hearing on September 28 whether to block the vaccine requirement from taking effect pending the outcome of the case. The New York Attorney General's office, which represents the state, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did lawyers for the plaintiffs. The mandate was issued last month by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said at the time that about 75% of the state's roughly 450,000 hospital workers were fully vaccinated. President Joe Biden announced the federal government's aggressive new approach to fight the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday, which include new vaccine rules that the White House says will affect two-third of the American workforce The rate of COVID vaccinations slowed down going into summer, sending the White House into a frenzy looking for ways to encourage people to get the shot Hospitals in the state have struggled finding staffing because of the vaccine mandate. Nurses at a maternity ward at one upstate hospital resigned earlier this month, forcing the hospital to halt all baby deliveries after Sept. 24. 'There are facilities, for example in New York City, that 98% of their staff are vaccinated, they don’t have a worker shortage. We are working closely with these hospitals to find out where we can get other individuals to come in and supplement nursing homes and other facilities,' Hochul said. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced the federal government's aggressive new approach to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which included new vaccine rules that the White House says will affect two-thirds of the American workforce. The strategy involves six steps all aimed at boosting the US vaccination rate, which fell over the summer as a new wave fueled by the Delta variant plunged health care systems in areas with largely unvaccinated populations back into disarray. About 73.4 percent of Americans over the age of 12 have at least one vaccine dose, but less than 63 percent are fully vaccinated - far short of the threshold to reach herd immunity. Biden's approach includes mandating all federal employees and federal contractors get vaccinated, requiring vaccinations for more than 17 million healthcare workers at Medicare and Medicaid-participating facilities and requiring all businesses with 100 or more employees to tell their workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID testing. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility