Maxime Beltra lost his life on Monday evening, after having been vaccinated against Covid-19 several hours earlier.
According to his family, the young man of 22 years would have died precisely because of this injection received the same day.
But no link has been established at this stage, and the hypothesis of a fatal allergic reaction due to another reason is favored medically and by the courts.
We tried to describe as precisely as possible what we know about this tragic story, relayed on social networks by many personalities and by sites sometimes qualified as "conspirators".
What happened ?
The facts happened on Monday, July 26.
Maxime Beltra, described as "very nice" by one of his fellow waitresses at the La Siesta brewery (in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer) where he worked during the summer of 2016, received an injection of Pfizer vaccine in early afternoon, around 2 p.m., in Sète.
According to our information, the city's firefighters were called at 9:42 p.m. sharp for an intervention at his home in order to transport the young man to the hospital.
He was the victim of an "allergic shock", agree to say his family and the rescuers.
A person posing as the father of Maxime Beltra said in a video shared on Facebook that he had died at 11 p.m., despite the interventions of caregivers.
How did his family react?
In this video message posted Tuesday morning on Facebook, the father, particularly moved and sobs in his voice, judged "criminal to put on the market vaccines which are not certified [and] which kill young people of 22 years old in fine fettle ".
His face is not visible, he expresses himself by showing the vaccination certificate which should have allowed his son to "go with a friend to Greece".
According to him, the dose of Pfizer vaccine received is the cause of the young man's death.
"We are in the process of vaccinating all of humanity with treatments (…) whose side effects we do not know", he lost his temper.
Denouncing "a corruption to vomit of our elites" and a "criminal" attitude, he hopes that his video, widely used on social networks, will "go around the world".
The La Steria brewery, where Maxime Beltra worked five years ago, notably relayed this publication on its Facebook page.
“We often bumped into Maxime and I know his dad very well, also a restaurateur near us.
He is not at all in a conspiratorial state of mind vis-à-vis the virus, "assures Parisian Nicolas Clapier, the boss - for 13 years - of the establishment.
The manager indicates to have shared the video in question to "pay tribute" to the young man, but he assures us "not to want to take sides on one side or the other".
Facebook, however, affixed an information message to the publication indicating that “vaccines against Covid-19 are subject to numerous tests to verify their safety and effectiveness” and that they “are closely monitored”.
What do we know about the causes of death?
According to the Sète firefighters, the young man was allergic to a food and he had consumed it.
What confirms the prosecutor of the Republic of Montpellier, Fabrice Bélargent.
" It
It has already been established that the young man ate a food for which he had a known allergy shortly before his death, ”he told France Info.
Midi Libre specifies that it is an "allergic reaction of angioedema type (1), generally associated with an allergy, often food".
On Twitter, several people presenting themselves as relatives (family or friends) of Maxime indicate that he was allergic to peanuts, that he was "followed" medically for that, and that he was in theory equipped to be able to receive a peanut. "Antihistamine injection" and relieve it if necessary.
“In 2016, he lived with us for 3 months, we ate together every day and I had never had any information that he was allergic.
But some people are and manage to manage themselves, paying attention to what they eat, ”says Nicolas Clapier.
According to the site actu.fr, Maxime Beltra had specified just before being vaccinated that he was allergic.
It is for this reason that he was asked to remain in place “beyond the fifteen minutes usually recommended after each injection”.
He was then able to return home since he felt no trouble.
Read also Pfizer vaccine: fatigue, fever ... is the risk of side effects really higher after the 2nd dose?
However, serious allergic shocks can occur after vaccination. Francesco Salvo, head of the Regional Pharmacovigilance Center (CRPV) of Bordeaux, tells us that 30 cases have been identified in France following a Pfizer injection, most often after the first dose. “No deaths have been recorded and it's something that happens quite quickly. One case was observed 24 hours after vaccination but there had been a bee sting in the meantime, ”he says. “It's almost immediate, in the vast majority of cases within a quarter of an hour. This is why we ask you to wait a bit after having been vaccinated and before leaving, ”adds Mathieu Molimard, head of the medical pharmacology department of the Bordeaux University Hospital.
For specialists, the vaccine is "very unlikely" to be the cause of death following an allergic reaction several hours later. But only the criminal investigation, opened by the prosecutor's office of Montpellier for "research of the causes of death", and that of pharmacovigilance will make it possible to definitively shed all the light on this drama.