D.C. has pushed its timeline for offering COVID-19 vaccine appointments to all of-age residents up to April 12, according to the city’s health department. And some D.C. residents received a pleasant surprise on Thursday morning, when they were invited to book vaccine appointments before they thought they were eligible.

DC Health said in a statement Thursday that it had offered every D.C. resident who is a senior, essential worker, or resident with a qualifying medical condition who had pre-registered for the coronavirus vaccine an appointment — and there were enough appointments left that they were able to begin offering them to residents who were 16 and older and did not qualify for priority status through their job or medical condition.

“We are now able to move to Phase Two for the general population with appointments starting on April 12, which is earlier than planned,” said the statement. That’s a week ahead of the earlier schedule.

As of April 2, more than 162,000 D.C. residents were partially or fully vaccinated, and more than 190,000 D.C. residents had pre-registered with DC Health for the vaccine and were still awaiting an appointment. DC Health is encouraging all D.C. residents to pre-register for vaccine appointments at the city’s website or via its call center (1-855-363-0333).

“Take the shot, DC,” said the department.

D.C. and its surrounding jurisdictions are now all ahead of their previously set benchmarks for expanding eligibility for the vaccination, though racial and economic equity in vaccine distribution remain a persistent challenge for the region. Among seniors in D.C., vaccination rates remain the lowest in majority-Black Wards 7 and 8, which face some of the city’s highest poverty rates. As of last week, just 38% of seniors in Ward 7 and 37% of seniors in Ward 8 were fully vaccinated, compared to 59% in majority-white and more affluent Ward 3.

The District is also set to open an additional “high-capacity” vaccination site at Arena Stage on Friday. The sooner-than-expected move to expand eligibility comes as more vaccine doses have started popping up at D.C.’s pharmacies. Some are booking appointments independently of the city’s centralized pre-registration portal — though DC Health officials seem to want them to stop doing that.

D.C. and its surrounding jurisdictions all recently announced that they would be expanding vaccine eligibility more quickly than previously anticipated. Maryland’s mass vaccination sites have already expanded their eligibility to all residents over 16, and pharmacies and county health departments are expected to update their eligibility starting Monday. In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has said eligibility will expand to include all residents over age 16 by April 18. And in D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser recently said that all of-age D.C. residents will become eligible to get their shot by April 19.

Many D.C. residents have already been able to take advantage of the recently-expanded eligibility at Maryland’s mass vaccination sites, which have been accepting D.C. residents. (D.C. has also been vaccinating many essential workers who live in Maryland and Virginia.)

The announcements from local leaders came shortly before President Joe Biden’s administration moved up the national timeline for vaccination eligibility from May 1 to mid-April.