diff --git a/core/db/__init__.py b/core/db/__init__.py
index 1eb2996..ee5a092 100644
--- a/core/db/__init__.py
+++ b/core/db/__init__.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class StorageBackend(ABC):
         self.log.info(f"Initialising storage backend {name}")
 
         self.initialise_caching()
-        self.initialise()
+        # self.initialise()
 
     @abstractmethod
     def initialise(self, **kwargs):
diff --git a/core/db/elastic.py b/core/db/elastic.py
index 807039c..03107e2 100644
--- a/core/db/elastic.py
+++ b/core/db/elastic.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 
 from django.conf import settings
-from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
+from elasticsearch import AsyncElasticsearch, Elasticsearch
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import NotFoundError, RequestError
 
 from core.db import StorageBackend, add_defaults
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@ from core.lib.parsing import (
 class ElasticsearchBackend(StorageBackend):
     def __init__(self):
         super().__init__("Elasticsearch")
+        self.client = None
+        self.async_client = None
 
     def initialise(self, **kwargs):
         """
-        Inititialise the Elastuicsearch API endpoint.
+        Inititialise the Elasticsearch API endpoint.
         """
         auth = (settings.ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME, settings.ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD)
         client = Elasticsearch(
@@ -35,6 +37,16 @@ class ElasticsearchBackend(StorageBackend):
         )
         self.client = client
 
+    async def async_initialise(self, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Inititialise the Elasticsearch API endpoint in async mode.
+        """
+        auth = (settings.ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME, settings.ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD)
+        client = AsyncElasticsearch(
+            settings.ELASTICSEARCH_URL, http_auth=auth, verify_certs=False
+        )
+        self.async_client = client
+
     def construct_context_query(
         self, index, net, channel, src, num, size, type=None, nicks=None
     ):
@@ -186,6 +198,8 @@ class ElasticsearchBackend(StorageBackend):
         Accept fields and size, for the fields we want to match and the
         number of results to return.
         """
+        if self.client is None:
+            self.initialise()
         index = kwargs.get("index")
         try:
             response = self.client.search(body=search_query, index=index)
@@ -205,9 +219,11 @@ class ElasticsearchBackend(StorageBackend):
         Accept fields and size, for the fields we want to match and the
         number of results to return.
         """
+        if self.async_client is None:
+            await self.async_initialise()
         index = kwargs.get("index")
         try:
-            response = self.client.search(body=search_query, index=index)
+            response = await self.async_client.search(body=search_query, index=index)
         except RequestError as err:
             print("Elasticsearch error", err)
             return err