diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
index e24686a351b..e8b4227a5af 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
@@ -1401,6 +1401,7 @@ func switchReadsDryRun(t *testing.T, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow string, dry
 		require.FailNowf(t, "Invalid workflow type for SwitchTraffic, must be MoveTables or Reshard",
 			"workflow type specified: %s", workflowType)
 	}
+	ensureCanSwitch(t, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow)
 	output, err := vc.VtctlClient.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(workflowType, "--", "--cells="+cells, "--tablet_types=rdonly,replica",
 		"--dry_run", "SwitchTraffic", ksWorkflow)
 	require.NoError(t, err, fmt.Sprintf("Switching Reads DryRun Error: %s: %s", err, output))
@@ -1409,6 +1410,23 @@ func switchReadsDryRun(t *testing.T, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow string, dry
 	}
 }
 
+func ensureCanSwitch(t *testing.T, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow string) {
+	timer := time.NewTimer(defaultTimeout)
+	defer timer.Stop()
+	for {
+		_, err := vc.VtctlClient.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(workflowType, "--", "--cells="+cells, "--dry_run", "SwitchTraffic", ksWorkflow)
+		if err == nil {
+			return
+		}
+		select {
+		case <-timer.C:
+			t.Fatalf("Did not become ready to switch traffic for %s before the timeout of %s", ksWorkflow, defaultTimeout)
+		default:
+			time.Sleep(defaultTick)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func switchReads(t *testing.T, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow string, reverse bool) {
 	if workflowType != binlogdatapb.VReplicationWorkflowType_MoveTables.String() &&
 		workflowType != binlogdatapb.VReplicationWorkflowType_Reshard.String() {
@@ -1421,6 +1439,7 @@ func switchReads(t *testing.T, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow string, reverse b
 	if reverse {
 		command = "ReverseTraffic"
 	}
+	ensureCanSwitch(t, workflowType, cells, ksWorkflow)
 	output, err = vc.VtctlClient.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(workflowType, "--", "--cells="+cells, "--tablet_types=rdonly",
 		command, ksWorkflow)
 	require.NoError(t, err, fmt.Sprintf("%s Error: %s: %s", command, err, output))
@@ -1440,6 +1459,7 @@ func switchWrites(t *testing.T, workflowType, ksWorkflow string, reverse bool) {
 		command = "ReverseTraffic"
 	}
 	const SwitchWritesTimeout = "91s" // max: 3 tablet picker 30s waits + 1
+	ensureCanSwitch(t, workflowType, "", ksWorkflow)
 	// Use vtctldclient for MoveTables SwitchTraffic ~ 50% of the time.
 	if workflowType == binlogdatapb.VReplicationWorkflowType_MoveTables.String() && time.Now().Second()%2 == 0 {
 		parts := strings.Split(ksWorkflow, ".")
@@ -1535,6 +1555,7 @@ func generateInnoDBRowHistory(t *testing.T, sourceKS string, neededTrxHistory in
 // expected length.
 func waitForInnoDBHistoryLength(t *testing.T, tablet *cluster.VttabletProcess, expectedLength int64) {
 	timer := time.NewTimer(defaultTimeout)
+	defer timer.Stop()
 	historyLen := int64(0)
 	for {
 		res, err := tablet.QueryTablet(historyLenQuery, tablet.Keyspace, false)