diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 61ac673..8638f3e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ fastify.listen(3000, err => {
 })
 ```
 
+By default, `fastify-elasticsearch` will try to ping the cluster as soon as you start Fastify, but in some cases pinging may not be supported due to the user permissions. If you want, you can disable the initial ping with the `healthcheck` option:
+```js
+fastify.register(require('fastify-elasticsearch'), {
+  node: 'http://localhost:9200',
+  healthcheck: false
+})
+```
+
 If you need to connect to different clusters, you can also pass a `namespace` option:
 ```js
 const fastify = require('fastify')()
diff --git a/es-docker.sh b/es-docker.sh
index b5a74e1..49e0504 100755
--- a/es-docker.sh
+++ b/es-docker.sh
@@ -7,4 +7,4 @@ exec docker run \
   --rm \
   -e "discovery.type=single-node" \
   -p 9200:9200 \
-  docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.1.0
+  docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.4.0
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index c26e17c..8d55598 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -4,12 +4,15 @@ const fp = require('fastify-plugin')
 const { Client } = require('@elastic/elasticsearch')
 
 async function fastifyElasticsearch (fastify, options) {
-  const { namespace } = options
+  const { namespace, healthcheck } = options
   delete options.namespace
+  delete options.healthcheck
 
   const client = options.client || new Client(options)
 
-  await client.ping()
+  if (healthcheck !== false) {
+    await client.ping()
+  }
 
   if (namespace) {
     if (!fastify.elastic) {
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index fe75a96..18821a4 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -27,6 +27,22 @@ test('with unreachable cluster', async t => {
   }
 })
 
+test('with unreachable cluster and healthcheck disabled', async t => {
+  const fastify = Fastify()
+  fastify.register(fastifyElasticsearch, {
+    node: 'http://localhost:9201',
+    healthcheck: false
+  })
+
+  try {
+    await fastify.ready()
+    t.strictEqual(fastify.elastic.name, 'elasticsearch-js')
+  } catch (err) {
+    t.fail('should not error')
+  }
+  await fastify.close()
+})
+
 test('namespaced', async t => {
   const fastify = Fastify()
   fastify.register(fastifyElasticsearch, {