A Hudson Valley nurse is fighting back against the vaccine mandate, saying she should be exempt for religious reasons.

Julie Tresco says she's nervous because she's an emergency room nurse at a prominent Hudson Valley hospital, who is refusing to get the state-mandated COVID-19 shot.

"It's not that I don't trust it. I don't think it's necessary for me," says Tresco.

Tresco says she is opposed to most vaccines and insists she hasn't gotten any.

"We have a right in this country to make informed consent," she says.

Tresco says there is something about the COVID-19 shots that doesn't sit right with her.

"The disease is most deadly for people who have preexisting conditions. I'm not someone who has preexisting conditions," she says.

To try and save her job, she's applying for an exemption on religious grounds, hoping her hospital will make an exception for her.

"I shouldn't have to choose between my job and livelihood and helping people," she says.

Tresco is currently awaiting a state court ruling on religious exemptions that could come down by Oct. 12.

Until then, she's not backing down and definitely not getting the shot, she says.

"I'm willing to put this aside," she says. "This is not what I signed up for. I didn't sign up to be coerced into something that could possibly harm me."