A Westchester children's hospital is hopeful a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is on the horizon, as it cares for dozens of medically at-risk children.

The patients at Blythedale Children's Hospital would fall under the at-risk category. The Valhalla facility is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of children with complex medical illnesses.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Scott Klein says it's unclear right now if the first round of vaccines would also be approved for children.

"They're going to want to approach this very carefully. That's why most of these trials, which is normal, start with adults, prove efficacy and safety in adults, and then they start staging it down in different ages in children," he says.

If the initial vaccine is made available to children, Dr. Klein says Blythdale would look at prioritizing certain groups of patients.

"I think we would prioritize our kids on ventilators, those that have significant risk of complication," he says. "I think we'd also look at kids that are in multigenerational homes."

Whatever the age group, a vaccine can't come fast enough.

"The more people that are immune to the virus, whether that's through natural immunity or through vaccine, it's better for everybody," says Klein.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced over the weekend New York state's preliminary plan to administer an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.

Cuomo says a special task force of experts would review any vaccine before he recommends it to the people of New York state.