Whoopi Goldberg has urged Bill Maher to "stay away from everybody" after his recent comments about the pandemic

She said on 'The View': "That's not really funny to people who have lost their kids to this vaccine, or people who lost family members or dear friends to this.

"You know, listen, nobody on the planet really wants to go through this.

This is not something we're doing because it's, you know, sexually gratifying. This is what we're doing to protect our families."

Whoopi told the TV star to "stay out of the public" in light of his recent comments about the health crisis.

The Hollywood star - who took some time off 'The View' earlier this month after testing positive for COVID - added: "Nobody wants this. I don't want it. And I think he's forgetting the people are still at risk, who cannot get vaccinated. People who can't get the [vaccine], little kids under the age of five, or people with health conditions. How dare you be so flippant, man?"

Bill, 66, previously hit out at COVID-related safety measures in the US.

The comedian complained that the restrictions have now become "silly".

He said on 'Real Time with Bill Maher': "I don't want to live in your paranoid world anymore, your masked paranoid world.

"You know, you go out, it's silly now! You know, you have your mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster, they scan your head like you're a cashier and I'm a bunch of bananas. I'm not bananas, you are."