Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state will appeal a ruling made by a federal judge on Tuesday that allows health care workers to seek religious exemptions from the statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

"When someone is sick and they go into an urgent center, they go into a hospital, they are in need of help because they are in a vulnerable physical state,” Hochul says. “They need to know that the person taking care of them will not pass on this deadly virus to them or their family members. And that has been the whole objective behind this mandate.”

The governor says the state is already in the process of working on the papers for the appeal, as well as with the attorney general's office.