In China, the number of cases of pulmonary nodules detected has sharply increased after the COVID-19 epidemic (COVID-19, CCP virus), once again causing anxiety among the public. Authorities have repeatedly emphasized that this is the result of “progress in screening technology.” However, experts point out that the key issue lies not in “discovering so many cases,” but in “why the true incidence rate continues to rise,” as well as the long-term failure of the authorities to fully disclose the safety, side effects, and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 vaccines.
According to data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization as cited by the Daily Economic News on January 8, 2026, lung cancer ranks first in malignant tumors in terms of incidence and death rates in China, with approximately 75% of patients being diagnosed at an advanced stage. At the same time, the population identified with pulmonary nodules through physical examinations has reached approximately 120-150 million people, a figure even exceeding the number of diabetes patients.
However, the causes and responsibilities behind this massive number of cases remain deliberately obscured by the authorities.
Regarding the rising detection rate of pulmonary nodules, the official Chinese media and authorities repeatedly quote academician Zhong Nanshan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Zhong Nanshan recently pointed out, “One important reason for the increasing number of pulmonary nodules detected is that the number of CT scans performed after COVID-19 has significantly increased, leading to the discovery of more pulmonary nodules. In addition to the COVID-19 virus, various reasons such as environmental pollution can also lead to the appearance of pulmonary nodules.”
He also reminded the public to “not panic excessively, but also not to underestimate” the issue, stating that “most pulmonary nodules are benign, but about 11% of them exhibit malignant tendencies.”
This narrative focuses on “the quantity of discoveries” and “calming anxieties,” while avoiding the core issue.
“Official explanations only address why there are so many cases being discovered now, but not why the actual incidence rate is high,” said Dr. Lin Xiaoxu, former virus researcher at the US Army Research Institute, in a direct statement.
Lin Xiaoxu told Epoch Times, “The number of people in China with pulmonary nodules reaching 120-150 million is not a sudden phenomenon but a cumulative result of multiple factors.” Apart from environmental pollution and prolonged exposure, “the long-term consequences of long COVID (lasting symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) and issues with COVID-19 vaccines are the parts that the authorities are most reluctant to touch upon.”
The experience of Mr. Liang, a patient with pulmonary nodules from Hebei province, serves as a typical example under the official “vaccine unrelated” narrative. He told Epoch Times, “In January 2021, after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, I developed pulmonary nodules from the Sinovac vaccine and several autoimmune diseases,” including “severe allergic asthma, chronic pharyngitis, mitral and tricuspid valve insufficiency, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, all of which appeared after receiving the vaccine.”
He said, “I have been ill for five years, fighting for my rights for two years, but there has been no response. The investigation and diagnosis by the disease control center claimed it was a coincidental occurrence, unrelated to the vaccine.”
When he requested a re-investigation, “they refused to conduct it and instructed me to go to the medical association in the city for evaluation,” but his fellow patients had already told him that “the medical association and disease control experts are all in cahoots and are almost impossible to admit to being vaccine side effects.”
Mr. Liang bluntly stated, “Almost everyone around me who received the vaccine has pulmonary nodules.”
Mr. Qian Dalong, a stroke patient from Beijing, pointed out that pulmonary nodules are just the tip of the iceberg. He said, “Many people, all those who received the vaccine, have pulmonary nodules. Some have died, and some are still alive. Pulmonary nodules are just a common, inconspicuous condition; strokes are more common.”
He recalled that since the mass vaccination of the COVID-19 vaccine began in 2021, there have been continuous occurrences of “leukemia, various strokes, various diseases,” and “not just millions, everyone who received the COVID-19 vaccine has nodules.”
Mr. Qian stated that when he fell ill, “the doctor said my blood vessels were fine, my blood lipid and blood sugar levels were normal, I shouldn’t have this disease, I had no predisposing conditions, only the COVID-19 vaccine as a causal factor.” What was even more shocking, he pointed out, was that this type of stroke was “different from a normal stroke,” and that “traditional thrombolytic treatment methods would lead to cerebral hemorrhage and have caused the deaths of many people.”
Talking about advocacy, he said, “Those advocating for COVID-19 vaccine rights are the most severely suppressed and persecuted group.” He mentioned, “All of us who demonstrated were criminally detained; three people were sentenced, and the others were detained and released on bail,” even if the cases were acknowledged by the authorities, “they would be twisted into coincidental or unrelated issues in various places to evade compensation responsibility.”
Lin Xiaoxu warned that “COVID-19 has never left China; there have been many people repeatedly infected in the past few years, the incidence rate of long COVID is very high, and these patients have a high proportion of pulmonary nodules. Even if many people feel they have recovered from the disease, they may still have pulmonary nodules.”
He further pointed out that the early virus strains “were most likely to cause lower respiratory tract infections,” and “when the Wuhan virus emerged, it mainly affected the lower respiratory tract, so lung infections were very common.” In such a situation, if the vaccine production process is substandard, “it will definitely harm some people’s bodies, including causing pulmonary nodules.”
Regarding the authorities’ failure to publicly disclose the full extent of vaccine side effects and long-term consequences, Lin Xiaoxu stated, “This is a taboo for the authorities. The overall consequences of poor-quality COVID-19 vaccines are difficult for the public to see in their entirety because the government does not investigate.”
According to a report by New Tang Dynasty, on September 22, 2022, the online platform “Weibo Xing’s Health Reform” published an article titled “Sinovac Trending in the Middle of the Night, Related Topic Views Exceed One Billion,” which gathered numerous posts from netizens accusing the administration of the Beijing Sinovac vaccine of potentially causing pulmonary nodules. However, when the article was about to surpass 20 million views, it was suddenly blocked. The next day, the CCP media quickly brought out so-called “experts” to “debunk rumors” and claim that “inactivated vaccines are not related to the risk of pulmonary nodules.”
Sinovac Biotech was once the most widely used producer of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines in China. According to Sinovac’s financial report following its listing on the US stock market at the end of 2021, the company’s sales soared to $11 billion in the first half of 2021, a 162-fold increase from the previous year. By late December of that year, Sinovac had supplied 2.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
However, in early January 2024, Sinovac announced the suspension of vaccine production, which caused significant concern. In April of the same year, scientist Yang Xiaoming, once hailed as the “father of COVID-19 vaccines,” was investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Lin Xiaoxu pointed out that Yang Xiaoming, a former senior executive at China National Pharmaceutical Group, was under investigation for corruption, and Sinovac was suspected of bribery. “This, in turn, indicates that the issue of problem vaccines associated with COVID was covered up by the government, merely treating corruption lightly instead of addressing the harm caused by problematic vaccines to the public.”
Facing the massive pulmonary nodule population, the authorities are attempting to respond with “managed healthcare.” According to a report by the Daily Economic News website, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, in collaboration with insurance and technology companies, launched the country’s first “digital management therapy program for pulmonary nodules with insurance coverage” in the first half of 2025, claiming to cover tens of millions of people with pulmonary nodules.
However, Lin Xiaoxu pointed out that such “insurance for the diseased” may seem innovative, but in reality, it “to some extent shifts the public’s discontent over medical insurance problems” and “transforms doubts about the government’s medical insurance deficit into a new commercial health insurance solution.”
Mr. Liang also stated bluntly, “I do not understand this insurance mechanism, and no one is providing any coverage. This is to sell insurance because the country is currently short of money, both social security and medical insurance funds are in deficit, and they are trying to extract money from ordinary people in every possible way.”
Epoch Times political commentator Li Linyi stated that Chinese domestic vaccine companies like Sinovac have never publicly disclosed complete data on vaccine side effects, complications, long-term consequences, and mortality rates. On one hand, the authorities vehemently deny vaccine risks, while on the other hand, they tell the vast patient group that these are just “coincidental occurrences” and suppress them in their advocacy.
He criticized that in the face of over a hundred million cases of pulmonary nodules and numerous severe cases, what truly stirs social unrest is not just the diseases themselves but the lack of transparency, selective disclosure, and responsibility avoidance by the CCP authorities regarding vaccine safety, public health governance, and the medical insurance system.