Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul made her first visit to the only state-run COVID-19 vaccination site in Westchester County - and spoke exclusively to News 12 when she was there.

She also met with Westchester County Executive George Latimer, the head of the Westchester Medical Center and thanked the health care volunteers.

Over the past several weeks, News 12 has heard from hundreds of people with serious medical conditions who say they are hitting a wall getting vaccination appointments and are desperate for answers.

Other states such as New Jersey and Maryland are starting to open up vaccine access for the immunocompromised, so News 12 asked her when access will open in New York.

Her answer was a lot sooner than people might think.

"Dr. Zucker, our Department of Health's commissioner is working closely with our entire team to settle that as we speak," she says.

News 12 asked Hochul if we were weeks or months away.

"I would say within weeks or even less," she told News 12's Tara Rosenblum. "The challenge we faced, this is something we wish had not happened overnight based on the supply they (federal government) were giving us and they all of a sudden said by the way include 65 and up. That took us from 2.1 people eligible to 7 million eligible. That just blew up the system," she says.

As for when those without underlying health conditions can realistically expect to get access to the vaccine, she says based on the current data, that won't happen until sometime this summer.