diff --git a/app/models/application_record.rb b/app/models/application_record.rb
index adebaf03b..e2eb5b9bd 100644
--- a/app/models/application_record.rb
+++ b/app/models/application_record.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ class ApplicationRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
   include Events::Types
   self.abstract_class = true
 
-  connects_to database: { writing: :primary, reading: :primary_replica }
+  # connects_to database: { writing: :primary, reading: :primary_replica }
 
   before_validation :validates_column_content_length
 
diff --git a/config/initializers/database_fallback.rb b/config/initializers/database_fallback.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..624f98ab8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/database_fallback.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+require 'active_record'
+
+replica_available = ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.with_connection do |conn|
+  conn.execute('SELECT 1 FROM primary_replica LIMIT 1')
+  true
+rescue StandardError
+  false
+end
+
+Rails.application.config.to_prepare do
+  ApplicationRecord.connects_to database: {
+    writing: :primary,
+    reading: replica_available ? :primary_replica : :primary
+  }
+end