Sean Penn believes coronavirus vaccines should be "mandatory"

He said: "My deep belief, personally, is that it's no different having everybody being able to drive 100 miles an hour in a car.

"This is one of those things that should be mandatory.

"I think that vaccines need to be mandatory and that businesses - the movie business and all businesses - need to take the lead and not be so timid when dealing with their collective bargaining partners."

The 'Into the Wild' star also insisted there is no excuse for anyone claiming there is not enough "information available" about the vaccine.

Speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment, he added: "There's different kinds of hesitancies, and so I don't think that there's much excuse to not know the information available anymore.

"That's part of why I think it should be mandatory.

"A resistance that's just based on a certain kind of ... lack of imagination and understanding of anything that's helpful to the human race, I've become very frustrated by that.

"But I can only work within my own bounds and say that, for me, it should be mandatory."

This comes after it was reported last month that Sean wouldn't return to work on his new TV series 'Gaslit' until the entire cast and crew had been vaccinated against COVID-19.

He appears in the Starz limited series with Julia Roberts, and was said to have offered to facilitate the vaccination effort free of charge through his CORE organisation.

NBCUniversal, the studio making the show, mandated vaccinations in 'Zone A' - which includes the cast and those in close proximity - last month.

An email was sent to cast and crew a few weeks ago informing them that a clinic was available on site to provide free jabs, and it is also offering vaccinations to NBCUniversal and production crews on the upper lot.

The message advised several choices of vaccine were available and the team would return in three weeks to administer a second dose where necessary.

Members of production were asked to present evidence of vaccination to the testing team when they arrive for their next shift on the project.

Zone A is the most restricted area on set in terms of coronavirus safety protocols because it is where unmasked actors work.

Sean's CORE initiative has spent the last 18 months working with officials in California to make testing available and to help facilitate the vaccination effort.