diff --git a/cluster/health-monitor.sh b/cluster/health-monitor.sh
index b9a690f42..0320a534d 100755
--- a/cluster/health-monitor.sh
+++ b/cluster/health-monitor.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 # CRICTL is the path of crictl
 CRICTL=${CRICTL:-"crictl"}
+# INITIAL_WAIT_ATTEMPTS is the number to attempt, before start
+# performing health check. The problem is that cri-containerd
+# and containerd are started around the same time with health
+# monitor, they may not be ready yet when health-monitor is started.
+INITIAL_WAIT_ATTEMPTS=${INITIAL_WAIT_ATTEMPTS:-5}
 # COMMAND_TIMEOUT is the timeout for the health check command.
 COMMAND_TIMEOUT=${COMMAND_TIMEOUT:-60}
 # CHECK_PERIOD is the health check period.
@@ -27,13 +32,21 @@ CHECK_PERIOD=${CHECK_PERIOD:-10}
 # and containerd.
 SLEEP_SECONDS=${SLEEP_SECONDS:-120}
 
+attempt=1
+until timeout ${COMMAND_TIMEOUT} ${CRICTL} pods > /dev/null || (( attempt == INITIAL_WAIT_ATTEMPTS ))
+do
+  echo "$attempt initial attempt \"$CRICTL pods\"! Trying again in $attempt seconds..."
+  sleep $(( attempt++ ))
+done
+
+echo "Start performing health check."
 while true; do
   # Use crictl pods because it requires both containerd and
   # cri-containerd to be working.
   if ! timeout ${COMMAND_TIMEOUT} ${CRICTL} pods > /dev/null; then
-    echo "crictl pods timeout!"
-    pkill containerd
-    pkill cri-containerd
+    echo "\"$CRICTL pods\" failed!"
+    pkill -x cri-containerd
+    pkill -x containerd
     # Wait for a while, as we don't want to kill it again before it is really up.
     sleep ${SLEEP_SECONDS}
   else
diff --git a/hack/test-utils.sh b/hack/test-utils.sh
index 705376914..86f56a2b8 100644
--- a/hack/test-utils.sh
+++ b/hack/test-utils.sh
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ test_setup() {
     echo "containerd is not installed, please run hack/install-deps.sh"
     exit 1
   fi
-  sudo pkill containerd
+  sudo pkill -x cri-containerd
+  sudo pkill -x containerd
   keepalive "sudo containerd" ${RESTART_WAIT_PERIOD} &> ${report_dir}/containerd.log &
   containerd_pid=$!
   # Wait for containerd to be running by using the containerd client ctr to check the version
@@ -69,7 +70,8 @@ test_teardown() {
   if [ -n "${cri_containerd_pid}" ]; then
     kill ${cri_containerd_pid}
   fi
-  sudo pkill containerd
+  sudo pkill -x cri-containerd
+  sudo pkill -x containerd
 }
 
 # keepalive runs a command and keeps it alive.
diff --git a/integration/test_utils.go b/integration/test_utils.go
index 9a88c1c2b..6200bd97e 100644
--- a/integration/test_utils.go
+++ b/integration/test_utils.go
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func Randomize(str string) string {
 
 // KillProcess kills the process by name. pkill is used.
 func KillProcess(name string) error {
-	output, err := exec.Command("pkill", fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", name)).CombinedOutput()
+	output, err := exec.Command("pkill", "-x", fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", name)).CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to kill %q - error: %v, output: %q", name, err, output)
 	}