diff --git a/go/mysql/flavor.go b/go/mysql/flavor.go
index d9bc7f31a63..9e6c9562e92 100644
--- a/go/mysql/flavor.go
+++ b/go/mysql/flavor.go
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ type flavor interface {
 	// to run until `pos` is reached. After reaching pos, replication will be stopped again
 	startReplicationUntilAfter(pos Position) string
 
+	// startReplicationSQLUntilAfter will restart replication's SQL_thread, but only allow it
+	// to run until `pos` is reached. After reaching pos, it will be stopped again
+	startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos Position) string
+
 	// stopReplicationCommand returns the command to stop the replication.
 	stopReplicationCommand() string
 
@@ -251,6 +255,11 @@ func (c *Conn) StartReplicationUntilAfterCommand(pos Position) string {
 	return c.flavor.startReplicationUntilAfter(pos)
 }
 
+// StartReplicationSQLUntilAfterCommand returns the command to start the replication's SQL thread.
+func (c *Conn) StartReplicationSQLUntilAfterCommand(pos Position) string {
+	return c.flavor.startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos)
+}
+
 // StopReplicationCommand returns the command to stop the replication.
 func (c *Conn) StopReplicationCommand() string {
 	return c.flavor.stopReplicationCommand()
diff --git a/go/mysql/flavor_filepos.go b/go/mysql/flavor_filepos.go
index 6636061d6cc..a76646f7d80 100644
--- a/go/mysql/flavor_filepos.go
+++ b/go/mysql/flavor_filepos.go
@@ -269,6 +269,10 @@ func (*filePosFlavor) startReplicationUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
 	return "unsupported"
 }
 
+func (*filePosFlavor) startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
+	return "unsupported"
+}
+
 // enableBinlogPlaybackCommand is part of the Flavor interface.
 func (*filePosFlavor) enableBinlogPlaybackCommand() string {
 	return ""
diff --git a/go/mysql/flavor_mariadb.go b/go/mysql/flavor_mariadb.go
index 2d6fc6cc996..2d46a1f7e43 100644
--- a/go/mysql/flavor_mariadb.go
+++ b/go/mysql/flavor_mariadb.go
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ func (mariadbFlavor) startReplicationUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("START SLAVE UNTIL master_gtid_pos = \"%s\"", pos)
 }
 
+func (mariadbFlavor) startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("START SLAVE SQL_THREAD UNTIL master_gtid_pos = \"%s\"", pos)
+}
+
 func (mariadbFlavor) startReplicationCommand() string {
 	return "START SLAVE"
 }
diff --git a/go/mysql/flavor_mysql.go b/go/mysql/flavor_mysql.go
index 4726e009e31..7cfe26475b9 100644
--- a/go/mysql/flavor_mysql.go
+++ b/go/mysql/flavor_mysql.go
@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ func (mysqlFlavor) startReplicationUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("START SLAVE UNTIL SQL_AFTER_GTIDS = '%s'", pos)
 }
 
+func (mysqlFlavor) startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("START SLAVE SQL_THREAD UNTIL SQL_AFTER_GTIDS = '%s'", pos)
+}
+
 func (mysqlFlavor) stopReplicationCommand() string {
 	return "STOP SLAVE"
 }
diff --git a/go/mysql/flavor_mysqlgr.go b/go/mysql/flavor_mysqlgr.go
index db65ff2f7b3..675d05f0dea 100644
--- a/go/mysql/flavor_mysqlgr.go
+++ b/go/mysql/flavor_mysqlgr.go
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ func (mysqlGRFlavor) startReplicationUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
 	return ""
 }
 
+// startReplicationSQLUntilAfter is disabled in mysqlGRFlavor
+func (mysqlGRFlavor) startReplicationSQLUntilAfter(pos Position) string {
+	return ""
+}
+
 // stopReplicationCommand returns the command to stop the replication.
 // we return empty here since `STOP GROUP_REPLICATION` should be called by
 // the external orchestrator
diff --git a/go/vt/mysqlctl/replication.go b/go/vt/mysqlctl/replication.go
index d2d8976500b..71721c6f15d 100644
--- a/go/vt/mysqlctl/replication.go
+++ b/go/vt/mysqlctl/replication.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vterrors"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtgate/evalengine"
 
 	"context"
@@ -97,6 +98,19 @@ func (mysqld *Mysqld) StartReplicationUntilAfter(ctx context.Context, targetPos
 	return mysqld.executeSuperQueryListConn(ctx, conn, queries)
 }
 
+// StartReplicationSQLUntilAfter starts replication until replication has come to `targetPos`, then it stops replication
+func (mysqld *Mysqld) StartReplicationSQLUntilAfter(ctx context.Context, targetPos mysql.Position) error {
+	conn, err := getPoolReconnect(ctx, mysqld.dbaPool)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer conn.Recycle()
+
+	queries := []string{conn.StartReplicationSQLUntilAfterCommand(targetPos)}
+
+	return mysqld.executeSuperQueryListConn(ctx, conn, queries)
+}
+
 // StopReplication stops replication.
 func (mysqld *Mysqld) StopReplication(hookExtraEnv map[string]string) error {
 	h := hook.NewSimpleHook("preflight_stop_slave")
@@ -210,6 +224,11 @@ func (mysqld *Mysqld) WaitSourcePos(ctx context.Context, targetPos mysql.Positio
 	}
 	defer conn.Recycle()
 
+	replicationStatus, err := conn.ShowReplicationStatus()
+	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, mysql.ErrNotReplica) {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// First check if filePos flavored Position was passed in. If so, we can't defer to the flavor in the connection,
 	// unless that flavor is also filePos.
 	waitCommandName := "WaitUntilPositionCommand"
@@ -244,12 +263,16 @@ func (mysqld *Mysqld) WaitSourcePos(ctx context.Context, targetPos mysql.Positio
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// Start the SQL Thread before waiting for position to be reached, since the replicas
-		// can only make forward progress if the SQL thread is started and we have already verified
-		// that the replica is not already as advanced as we want it to be
-		err = mysqld.executeSuperQueryListConn(ctx, conn, []string{conn.StartSQLThreadCommand()})
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
+		// If the SQL_thread is not already running -- e.g. in the case of EmergencyReparentShard where the
+		// instance is transitioning to PRIMARY but we need it to catch up by executing all of the queued
+		// binary log events before it starts serving traffic for the shard to minimize potential data
+		// loss -- then we try to start the SQL Thread before waiting for position to be reached, since the
+		// replicas can only make forward progress if the SQL thread is started and we have already
+		// verified that the replica is not already as advanced as we want it to be
+		if !replicationStatus.SQLHealthy() {
+			if err = mysqld.StartReplicationSQLUntilAfter(ctx, targetPos); err != nil {
+				return vterrors.Wrap(err, "the SQL_thread was stopped and we could not force start")
+			}
 		}
 
 		// Find the query to run, run it.