A judge believed a former Parksville health professional Diana Paloma Ramirez, despite the BC Prosecution Service contending she was not properly vaccinated and lied about her vaccination status. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

vaccination litigation

Alleged Parksville COVID vaccine violator wins court battle

Mar 10, 2026 | 5:29 AM

NANAIMO — Accused of not being properly vaccinated and lying about it, a former mid-Island health professional has been found not guilty of a pair of provincial Public Health Act charges.

Diana Paloma Ramirez, 50, was acquitted on Friday, March 6 at Nanaimo Law Courts in connection to alleged misconducts between late November 2021 and mid-January 2022.

She was employed as a Port Alberni Association of Community Living (PACL) care aide, with her role overseeing adults with various disabilities at a Parksville facility.

“It is alleged that Ms. Ramirez was not properly vaccinated, yet continued to work in contravention of that order. It is further alleged that she was not truthful with her employer about her vaccination status,” provincial court judge Chris Churchill relayed during his verdict.

Ramirez was charged with failing to comply with a health order, as well as knowingly providing misleading information.

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While Ramirez’ daughter was a co-accused, she was not prosecuted and believed to be out of the country.

A Nov. 18, 2021, order by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for health professionals until the order was repealed on Sept. 12, 2022.

At trial in which six Crown witnesses testified, evidence showed late in 2021 Ramirez provided a COVID vaccine card to her employer.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Kozera alleged information by Ramirez on the card and supplied in an online portal contained misleading information.

A core issue was a number marked on Ramirez’ COVID vaccination card from a July 31, 2021 clinic at Nanaimo’s Beban Park Social Centre.

Physical COVID vaccination cards included an identifying ‘lot’ number marked by an on-site clinician, with Ramirez’ number inconsistent with the clinic in question.

In fact, the number didn’t appear at any vaccination clinic in the province, the trial heard.

At a subsequent Sept. 2021 vaccination clinic in Qualicum Beach, the number written on Ramirez’ vaccination card was the correct lot number.

Also at play was difficulty experienced by Ramirez in obtaining a QR code to further confirm her vaccination status.

Ramirez testified that she made repeated efforts to get the required code, only to receive error messages in an online portal.

Other efforts, according to Ramirez, included phoning a help line, reaching out to her local MLA office who redirected her to the help line, as queries to Service Canada.

While she provided her vaccine card to PACL, Ramirez did not supply the QR code, resulting in PACL informing Ramirez that she could no longer report for work on Jan. 15, 2022.

Most of the witnesses called by Crown Counsel to testify were PACL representatives, including co-workers.

“None of the PACL witnesses could give direct evidence regarding whether Ms. Ramirez was properly vaccinated or not,” judge Churchill stated.

The Crown’s case relied heavily on a Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) contractor who was hired to lead a team responsible for entering data into the provincial immunization registry.

The witness speaking for the PHSA described barriers of the labour-intensive task, with inaccurate data being the primary challenge.

Ramirez, described as competent and well liked at her job, testified in her own defence at trial.

Judge Churchill said her testimony “was impressive,” pointing to the straight-forward way she recalled events, including her detailed descriptions of attending both vaccination clinics.

“I believe Ms. Ramirez’ evidence on this crucial issue.”

Even without Ramirez’ version of events, judge Churchill said he was left with reasonable doubt regarding the rest of the evidence.

He pointed to the heavy emphasis placed on the incorrect lot number from the Nanaimo vaccination clinic.

“The Crown’s theory is that this is evidence of fraud. In my view, an equally plausible theory is it could simply be human error at the hands of the clinician who filled out the card,” the judge told court while concluding his remarks.

Defence attorney Cheyne Hodson told NanaimoNewsNOW Ramirez did not take action to dispute her termination, stating she didn’t return to work after sustaining an unrelated workplace injury the month prior in December 2021.

Ramirez attended the decision remotely through a video feed.

Significant resources

Prosecuting Ramirez came at a considerable expense of public resources.

Despite allegations against Ramirez arising between late 2021 and early 2022 and a majority of public health restrictions lifted in March 2022, the BCPS approved charges against Ramirez in December 2023.

Following numerous pre-trial motions, Ramirez’ trial lasted a full week in one the busiest court houses in the province, where it’s not uncommon for cases to take nearly a year to proceed to trial. 

NanaimoNewsNOW is attempting to discern from the BCPS how many COVID-19 vaccine cases were pursued under the Public Health Act in the province, as well as the number of successful prosecutions.

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