» U.S. growth could surge on stimulus and vaccine rollout,

Global economic group expects powerful recovery for nation’s economy.

The U.S. economy will accelerate twice as fast as expected this year as the coming passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, combined with a rapid vaccine rollout, ignites a powerful recovery from the pandemic and helps lift global growth, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.

What’s happening

But countries that are stumbling in the pace of their vaccination campaigns, especially in Europe, risk falling behind as a failure to beat back the spread of the virus delays a reopening of business and prevents people from returning to their normal lives.

In its interim outlook, the economic organization laid out an uncomfortable reality facing governments as vaccine campaigns around the world make uneven progress: Simply pumping money into an economy is not enough for a revival; countries will need to offer both economic stimulus and an effective vaccine rollout.

“Stimulus without vaccinations won’t be as effective because consumers won’t go out doing normal things,” Laurence Boone, the OECD’S chief economist, said in a news briefing.

What the experts advise

The organization urged countries to go faster on vaccine campaigns to reopen their economies and said more vaccines needed to reach low-income countries — otherwise, parts of the developing world would remain under prolonged lockdowns or closed to travel, delaying a rebound.

More than 60 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. And Biden’s rescue package, which the House is expected to give final congressional approval Wednesday, includes direct payments of up to $1,400 to hundreds

of millions of Americans and the extension of a $300-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit until September.

What it means

Economists generally expected the pandemic-induced recession that swept across globe last year would be followed by an upswing in growth as businesses reopened and people returned to normal lives. But the report released Tuesday adds to a growing body of forecasts suggesting that the United States in particular could experience a POST-COVID-19 boom.

The OECD said the United States, the world’s largest economy, would grow 6.5% this year, up sharply from a 3.2% forecast in December. The surge will help lift global output to 5.6% — up 1 percentage point from the December forecast, after a 3.4% contraction in 2020.

China, which contained the virus outbreak more quickly than the United States and other countries, will continue to benefit with growth of 7.8% forecast for this year.

AP A man wearing a mask walks under a hiring sign at a CVS Pharmacy in San Francisco. A report released Tuesday adds to a body of forecasts suggesting the U.S. could experience a POST-COVID-19 boom.