diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
index 8faa0d43fd4..6a372b3fd09 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/vreplication_test.go
@@ -1701,15 +1701,18 @@ func releaseInnoDBRowHistory(t *testing.T, dbConn *mysql.Conn) {
 // name provided should be the source keyspace as the target tablet stats note the stream's
 // source keyspace and shard.
 func confirmVReplicationThrottling(t *testing.T, tab *cluster.VttabletProcess, keyspace, workflow string, appname throttlerapp.Name) {
-	time.Sleep(5 * time.Second) // To be sure that we accrue some lag
-	const zero = int64(0)
+	const (
+		sleepTime = 5 * time.Second
+		zv        = int64(0)
+	)
+	time.Sleep(sleepTime) // To be sure that we accrue some lag
 
 	jsVal, err := getDebugVar(t, tab.Port, []string{"VReplicationThrottledCounts"})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.NotEqual(t, "{}", jsVal)
 	// The JSON value looks like this: {"cproduct.4.tablet.vstreamer": 2, "cproduct.4.tablet.vplayer": 4}
 	throttledCount := gjson.Get(jsVal, fmt.Sprintf(`%s\.*\.tablet\.%s`, workflow, appname)).Int()
-	require.Greater(t, throttledCount, zero, "JSON value: %s", jsVal)
+	require.Greater(t, throttledCount, zv, "JSON value: %s", jsVal)
 
 	val, err := getDebugVar(t, tab.Port, []string{"VReplicationThrottledCountTotal"})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -1727,7 +1730,9 @@ func confirmVReplicationThrottling(t *testing.T, tab *cluster.VttabletProcess, k
 		// The JSON value looks like this: {"product.0.cproduct.4": 6}
 		vreplLagSeconds := gjson.Get(jsVal, fmt.Sprintf(`%s\.*\.%s\.*`, keyspace, workflow)).Int()
 		require.NoError(t, err)
-		require.Greater(t, vreplLagSeconds, zero, "JSON value: %s", jsVal)
+		// Take off 1 second to deal with timing issues in the test.
+		minLagSecs := int64(int64(sleepTime.Seconds()) - 1)
+		require.GreaterOrEqual(t, vreplLagSeconds, minLagSecs, "JSON value: %s", jsVal)
 
 		val, err = getDebugVar(t, tab.Port, []string{"VReplicationLagSecondsMax"})
 		require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/go/vt/vttablet/tabletmanager/vreplication/vplayer.go b/go/vt/vttablet/tabletmanager/vreplication/vplayer.go
index 9e0d24bbc78..6bfee82b682 100644
--- a/go/vt/vttablet/tabletmanager/vreplication/vplayer.go
+++ b/go/vt/vttablet/tabletmanager/vreplication/vplayer.go
@@ -524,14 +524,12 @@ func (vp *vplayer) applyEvents(ctx context.Context, relay *relayLog) error {
 		sbm = -1
 		for i, events := range items {
 			for j, event := range events {
-				// If the event has no timestamp OR is an Other/GTID event (which is only meant
-				// to move the position forward as non-data changing events occur) then do not
-				// update the lag.
-				// If the batch consists only of Other/GTID and Heartbeat events then we cannot
-				// calculate the lag -- as the vstreamer may be fully throttled -- and we will
+				// If the event has no timestamp OR is a heartbeat event then do not update
+				// the lag.
+				// If the batch consists only of heartbeat events then we cannot calculate
+				// the lag -- as the vstreamer may be fully throttled -- and we will
 				// estimate it after processing the batch.
-				if event.Timestamp != 0 &&
-					!(event.Type == binlogdatapb.VEventType_GTID || event.Type == binlogdatapb.VEventType_HEARTBEAT) {
+				if event.Timestamp != 0 && event.Type != binlogdatapb.VEventType_HEARTBEAT {
 					vp.lastTimestampNs = event.Timestamp * 1e9
 					vp.timeOffsetNs = time.Now().UnixNano() - event.CurrentTime
 					sbm = event.CurrentTime/1e9 - event.Timestamp
diff --git a/go/vt/vttablet/tabletserver/vstreamer/vstreamer.go b/go/vt/vttablet/tabletserver/vstreamer/vstreamer.go
index fb9d0d27e68..9d69418cf5a 100644
--- a/go/vt/vttablet/tabletserver/vstreamer/vstreamer.go
+++ b/go/vt/vttablet/tabletserver/vstreamer/vstreamer.go
@@ -359,7 +359,6 @@ func (vs *vstreamer) parseEvents(ctx context.Context, events <-chan mysql.Binlog
 	go throttleEvents(throttledEvents)
 
 	for {
-		// Drain event if timer fired before reset.
 		resetHBTimer()
 
 		select {