Kanye West thinks a coronavirus vaccine will be ''the mark of the beast''.

The 43-year-old rapper has revealed he is against the development of a vaccine against COVID-19 - which has infected over 12 million people worldwide, and claimed the lives of almost 550,000 - because he believes the injection will ''put chips inside of us'' that prevent people from ''crossing the gates of heaven''.

He said: ''It's so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralysed ... So when they say the way we're going to fix covid is with a vaccine, I'm extremely cautious. That's the mark of the beast.

''They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things to make it where we can't cross the gates of heaven. I'm sorry when I say they, the humans that have the Devil inside them. And the sad thing is that, the saddest thing is that we all won't make it to heaven, that there'll be some of us that do not make it.''

Kanye even claims to have contracted the virus himself back in February, but didn't specify whether or not he received a test to confirm his diagnosis.

He added: ''Chills, shaking in the bed, taking hot showers, looking at videos telling me what I'm supposed to do to get over it. I remember someone had told me Drake had the coronavirus and my response was Drake can't be sicker than me!''

And when asked how he thinks the virus should be fought without a vaccine, the 'Heartless' rapper - who recently announced his plans to run for President of the United States - said ''praying'' is the answer.

Speaking to Forbes magazine, he said: ''We pray. We pray for the freedom. It's all about God. We need to stop doing things that make God mad.''