New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering employing the National Guard and out-of-state medical workers to fill hospital staffing shortages with tens of thousands of workers unlikely to meet a Monday deadline for mandated Covid-19 vaccination.

The plan, outlined in a statement from Hochul, would allow her to declare a state of emergency to increase the supply of healthcare workers to include licenced professionals from other states and countries as well as retired nurses, Reuters reported.

Hochul said the state was also looking at using National Guard officers with medical training to keep hospitals and other medical facilities adequately staffed. Some 16 per cent of the state's 450,000 hospital staff, or roughly 70,000 workers, have not been fully vaccinated, the governor's office said.