Peralta, 47, died days later, on Nov. 21. While Sosa said his official cause of death is still pending, his wife told the New York Post that preliminary results show he died of “septic shock” — which occurs when sepsis leads to dangerously low blood pressure. Sepsis, caused by the body’s response to an infection, can be life-threatening if left unchecked.

But an “alternative news” story posted Nov. 27 on a website called Collective Evolution exploits Peralta’s death, and his advocacy, by suggesting his death resulted from the flu vaccine.

The author includes an important caveat: “[T]here is no way for me to know for sure whether the flu shot was the cause of, or was a contributing factor in Jose Peralta’s death.” But the article makes misleading and speculative statements that all but draw an unsupported connection between Peralta’s flu shot and his death.

“After Getting Flu Shot, New York State Senator Gets Sick For Two Weeks, Then Dies,” the headline reads.

The story goes on to cite a Nov. 22 New York Times article that quotes Sosa as saying Peralta had resisted going to a doctor despite not feeling well, but eventually went for an exam. “It was like pulling teeth to get him to talk about not feeling well,” Sosa told the Times. “He just thought he was having symptoms related to getting the flu shot.”

But Sosa told us those remarks were not intended to convey any connection between the flu shot and Peralta’s death. He called such an assertion “scientific nonsense.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that some who get the flu shot may experience a low-grade fever, headaches and muscle aches. It notes that the “most common side effects from the influenza shot are soreness, redness, and tenderness or swelling where the shot was given. “

Sosa said that, by the time Peralta consulted a doctor at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, he had other symptoms not expected from the flu shot — such as difficulty breathing. He was scheduled for an early December follow-up exam.

“I do not for a moment believe his death was caused by the flu shot,” Sosa said. “The senator would be disappointed to find that conspiracy theorists are using his death to forward their agenda by misrepresenting the facts.”

Judith O’Donnell, an epidemiologist and section chief of the infectious diseases division at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, said she had never heard of someone getting sepsis from the vaccine.

“I would say it’s impossible,” she said.

Sepsis could be triggered a number of ways. O’Donnell said it could result from, say, bacterial pneumonia, or a urinary tract infection that spreads into the bloodstream.

“Septic shock is caused by an overwhelming bacterial infection that generally starts somewhere, but the bacteria gets into the bloodstream,” she said, leading to a chain of “inflammatory events” that could lead to organ failure. “If not treated, or treated too late, it can even lead to death.”

The alt-news story — which is laced with opinion — criticizes the media for ignoring “a possible connection between vaccines and human illness, disease and death. … Especially in this case, as septic shock has been previously linked to the flu.”