diff --git a/src/backend/access/heap/vacuumlazy.c b/src/backend/access/heap/vacuumlazy.c
index 0a9ebd22bd..442db3551b 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/heap/vacuumlazy.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/heap/vacuumlazy.c
@@ -389,7 +389,11 @@ heap_vacuum_rel(Relation rel, VacuumParams *params,
 	Assert(params->index_cleanup != VACOPTVALUE_UNSPECIFIED);
 	Assert(params->truncate != VACOPTVALUE_UNSPECIFIED &&
 		   params->truncate != VACOPTVALUE_AUTO);
-	Assert(!VacuumFailsafeActive);
+	/*
+	 * While VacuumFailSafeActive is reset to false before calling this, we
+	 * still need to reset it here due to recursive calls.
+	 */
+	VacuumFailsafeActive = false;
 	vacrel->consider_bypass_optimization = true;
 	vacrel->do_index_vacuuming = true;
 	vacrel->do_index_cleanup = true;