diff --git a/plugins/telemetry-otel/src/main/java/org/opensearch/telemetry/OTelTelemetryPlugin.java b/plugins/telemetry-otel/src/main/java/org/opensearch/telemetry/OTelTelemetryPlugin.java
index e31ef94d21628..297ae8873636f 100644
--- a/plugins/telemetry-otel/src/main/java/org/opensearch/telemetry/OTelTelemetryPlugin.java
+++ b/plugins/telemetry-otel/src/main/java/org/opensearch/telemetry/OTelTelemetryPlugin.java
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ public Optional<Telemetry> getTelemetry(TelemetrySettings telemetrySettings) {
     }
 
     private void initializeOpenTelemetrySdk(TelemetrySettings telemetrySettings) {
+        if (refCountedOpenTelemetry != null) {
+            return;
+        }
         OpenTelemetrySdk openTelemetrySdk = OTelResourceProvider.get(telemetrySettings, settings);
         refCountedOpenTelemetry = new RefCountedReleasable<>("openTelemetry", openTelemetrySdk, openTelemetrySdk::close);
     }