diff --git a/sql/rpl_replica.cc b/sql/rpl_replica.cc
index 143dc94c907c..612aa2f956a4 100644
--- a/sql/rpl_replica.cc
+++ b/sql/rpl_replica.cc
@@ -2173,6 +2173,10 @@ int terminate_slave_threads(Master_info *mi, int thread_mask,
 
   if (thread_mask & (SLAVE_IO | SLAVE_FORCE_ALL)) {
     DBUG_PRINT("info", ("Terminating IO thread"));
+
+    // stop sending secondary lag stats to primary
+    stop_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
+
     mi->abort_slave = true;
     DBUG_EXECUTE_IF("pause_after_queue_event",
                     { rpl_replica_debug_point(DBUG_RPL_S_PAUSE_QUEUE_EV); });
@@ -2513,10 +2517,17 @@ bool start_slave_threads(bool need_lock_slave, bool wait_for_start,
     lock_cond_sql = &mi->rli->run_lock;
   }
 
-  if ((thread_mask & SLAVE_IO) && !enable_raft_plugin)
+  if ((thread_mask & SLAVE_IO) && !enable_raft_plugin) {
     is_error = start_slave_thread(key_thread_replica_io, handle_slave_io,
                                   lock_io, lock_cond_io, cond_io,
                                   &mi->slave_running, &mi->slave_run_id, mi);
+    if (!is_error) {
+      // clean up - stop previous run of slave_stats_daemon, if any
+      stop_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
+      // start sending secondary lag stats to primary
+      start_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
+    }
+  }
 
   if (!is_error && (thread_mask & (SLAVE_IO | SLAVE_MONITOR)) &&
       mi->is_source_connection_auto_failover() &&
@@ -5877,7 +5888,6 @@ extern "C" void *handle_slave_io(void *arg) {
   uint retry_count;
   bool suppress_warnings;
   int ret;
-  bool slave_stats_daemon_created = false;
   Global_THD_manager *thd_manager = Global_THD_manager::get_instance();
   // needs to call my_thread_init(), otherwise we get a coredump in DBUG_ stuff
   my_thread_init();
@@ -6043,12 +6053,6 @@ extern "C" void *handle_slave_io(void *arg) {
       goto connected;
     }
 
-    if (!slave_stats_daemon_created) {
-      // clean up - stop previous run of slave_stats_daemon, if any
-      stop_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
-      // start sending secondary lag stats to primary
-      slave_stats_daemon_created = start_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
-    }
     DBUG_PRINT("info", ("Starting reading binary log from master"));
     while (!io_slave_killed(thd, mi)) {
       MYSQL_RPL rpl;
@@ -6270,11 +6274,6 @@ extern "C" void *handle_slave_io(void *arg) {
 
     // error = 0;
   err:
-    if (slave_stats_daemon_created) {
-      // stop sending secondary lag stats to primary
-      stop_handle_slave_stats_daemon();
-    }
-
     /*
       If source_connection_auto_failover (async connection failover) is
       enabled, this server is not a Group Replication SECONDARY and
diff --git a/sql/slave_stats_daemon.cc b/sql/slave_stats_daemon.cc
index abaa0d25f0c7..d9eb74fb059e 100644
--- a/sql/slave_stats_daemon.cc
+++ b/sql/slave_stats_daemon.cc
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ static void *handle_slave_stats_daemon(void *arg MY_ATTRIBUTE((unused))) {
 bool start_handle_slave_stats_daemon() {
   DBUG_ENTER("start_handle_slave_stats_daemon");
 
-  channel_map.rdlock();
+  channel_map.assert_some_lock();
   if (channel_map.get_num_instances() != 1) {
     // more than one channels exists for this slave. We only support
     // single source slave topologies for now. Skip creating the thread.
@@ -238,10 +238,8 @@ bool start_handle_slave_stats_daemon() {
         "Number of channels = %lu. There should be only one channel"
         " with slave_stats_daemon. Not creating the thread.",
         channel_map.get_num_instances());
-    channel_map.unlock();
     DBUG_RETURN(false);
   }
-  channel_map.unlock();
 
   my_thread_handle thread_handle;
   slave_stats_daemon_thread_counter++;