diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/kong/fix-balancer-health-checker.yml b/changelog/unreleased/kong/fix-balancer-health-checker.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..10c81cb7aa10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/kong/fix-balancer-health-checker.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+message: Fixed a bug where the health checker could fail to initialize in rare cases.
+type: bugfix
+scope: Core
diff --git a/kong/runloop/balancer/healthcheckers.lua b/kong/runloop/balancer/healthcheckers.lua
index da22bd001490..3e8b934cb66a 100644
--- a/kong/runloop/balancer/healthcheckers.lua
+++ b/kong/runloop/balancer/healthcheckers.lua
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ function healthcheckers_M.create_healthchecker(balancer, upstream)
 
   local ssl_cert, ssl_key
   if upstream.client_certificate then
-    local cert, err = get_certificate(upstream.client_certificate)
+    local cert, err = get_certificate(upstream.client_certificate, nil, upstream.ws_id)
     if not cert then
       log(ERR, "unable to fetch upstream client TLS certificate ",
         upstream.client_certificate.id, ": ", err)
diff --git a/kong/runloop/certificate.lua b/kong/runloop/certificate.lua
index bfd34d527bc7..2ad82919d2fb 100644
--- a/kong/runloop/certificate.lua
+++ b/kong/runloop/certificate.lua
@@ -188,8 +188,10 @@ local function fetch_sni(sni, i)
 end
 
 
-local function fetch_certificate(pk, sni_name)
-  local certificate, err = kong.db.certificates:select(pk)
+local function fetch_certificate(pk, sni_name, ws_id)
+  local certificate, err = kong.db.certificates:select(pk, {
+    workspace = ws_id,
+  })
   if err then
     if sni_name then
       return nil, "failed to fetch certificate for '" .. sni_name .. "' SNI: " ..
@@ -251,12 +253,12 @@ local function init()
 end
 
 
-local function get_certificate(pk, sni_name)
+local function get_certificate(pk, sni_name, ws_id)
   local cache_key = kong.db.certificates:cache_key(pk)
   local certificate, err, hit_level = kong.core_cache:get(cache_key,
                                                           get_certificate_opts,
                                                           fetch_certificate,
-                                                          pk, sni_name)
+                                                          pk, sni_name, ws_id)
 
   if certificate and hit_level ~= 3 and certificate["$refs"] then
     certificate = parse_key_and_cert(kong.vault.update(certificate))