Every Marylander 16 and older is now eligible to pre-register to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday.|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||The governor said he's accelerating the vaccination timetable because the infrastructure and supplies are now in place.Hogan announced the state is immediately opening pre-registration to Phase 3. Once registered, Marylanders 16 and older will begin receiving appointments as they become available starting April 27.Pre-registration is open online here and at 855-MD-GOVAX. Individuals who are currently eligible under Phase 1 and Phase 2, but have not yet been vaccinated, will continue to be prioritized for appointments."We still recommend that the best way to ensure you get a vaccine at any of our sites is to pre-register and schedule an appointment," Hogan said.As of Thursday, the state has fully vaccinated more than 1 million people. Earlier in the week, Maryland entered Phase 2B of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan.Maryland has administered 2,760,176 COVID-19 vaccines, including more than 140,000 in just the past 48 hours. The state is averaging over 57,000 shots per day, Hogan said.Hogan said the advancement in the vaccine distribution plan comes "as a result of the robust infrastructure that we have built, our rapidly accelerating vaccination rate and finally that critical increase in vaccine supply."MASS VACCINATION SITES: This week, a mass vaccination site opened in Montgomery County, which will transition to a higher volume state-run site.A mass vaccination site will open Wednesday in Prince George's County at the Greenbelt Metro Station in partnership with FEMA. This site will have the capacity to administer up to 3,000 shots per day and will primarily serve Prince Georgians in underserved ZIP codes.Next week, the state will open a mass vaccination site in Baltimore County at the Maryland State Fairgrounds.The following week of April 12, sites will open at Frederick Community College and at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Anne Arundel County.The state will open a mass vaccination site at Ripken Stadium in Harford County the week of April 19, and at The Mall in Columbia in Howard County the week of April 26.Harford County Executive Barry Glassman issued a statement, saying: "I would like to thank Gov. Hogan for honoring our request for a mass vaccination site at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen. With its access to major transportation routes, this site will help us in the race to get vaccines to everyone in Harford County and the region."Watch the governor's news conference in its entirety:NO APPOINTMENT LINE: Beginning Friday, the Eastern Shore mass vaccination site in Salisbury will open a no appointment necessary, walk-up line for any eligible Marylander.Plans are underway to add additional no appointment lines at other sites."All of our mass vaccination sites are going to first be busy and then slow down," Hogan said. "Our goal is to put ourselves out of business. Our goal is not to have huge lines at 12 mass vaccination sites forever. Our plan is that everybody's going to have a vaccine like we did with people over 65."VACCINE EQUITY TASK FORCE: The VETF has completed or is in the process of completing nearly 100 missions. Hogan said the state continues to see significant increases in the vaccination rate in the hard-hit ZIP codes of 21801, 21804, 21890, 21224, 21217, 20785 and 20904.LOCAL EQUITY PLANS: The Maryland Department of Health is requiring all county health officers to submit finalized equity plans by Monday. The MDH will also provide each county with a targeted list of underserved ZIP codes and specific congregate facilities to focus on.The governor's update comes as there were 1,584 new COVID-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours. (More: Maryland among states seeing COVID-19 health metrics trend back upward)VARIANTS: The governor said the state is in a race between staying ahead of highly transmissible variants and getting people vaccinated. He said it's important to continue to wear a face mask and avoid traveling to places where the positivity rate remains high.Maryland is doing sequencing testing for variants at one of the highest levels in the country, according to the governor. Hogan said the state has identified 677 cases of COVID-19 variants in Maryland, 86% of which are the UK variant.The governor said the variants are driving an increase in new infections and hospitalizations across America, particularly among younger people. In Maryland, there has been an increase primarily in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.The governor also defended comments made by his top coronavirus adviser, Dr. Robert Redfield, who declared in his opinion that the COVID-19 came from a lab in China."For (the critics) to equate him giving his professional opinion with people attacking Asians, it was outrageous and disgusting, in my opinion, political nonsense, and they should probably apologize to Dr. Redfield," Hogan said.