diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/operations/repair_shards.c b/src/backend/distributed/operations/repair_shards.c
index 30f9b65c8..bd83093cd 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/operations/repair_shards.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/operations/repair_shards.c
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 #include "utils/palloc.h"
 
 /* local function forward declarations */
-static char LookupShardTransferMode(Oid shardReplicationModeOid);
 static void ErrorIfTableCannotBeReplicated(Oid relationId);
 static void RepairShardPlacement(int64 shardId, const char *sourceNodeName,
 								 int32 sourceNodePort, const char *targetNodeName,
@@ -226,7 +225,7 @@ ErrorIfTableCannotBeReplicated(Oid relationId)
  * LookupShardTransferMode maps the oids of citus.shard_transfer_mode enum
  * values to a char.
  */
-static char
+char
 LookupShardTransferMode(Oid shardReplicationModeOid)
 {
 	char shardReplicationMode = 0;
@@ -420,7 +419,7 @@ ReplicateColocatedShardPlacement(int64 shardId, char *sourceNodeName,
 		 * Since this a long-running operation we do this after the error checks, but
 		 * before taking metadata locks.
 		 */
-		EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodes();
+		EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodesExtended(shardReplicationMode);
 	}
 
 	CopyShardTables(colocatedShardList, sourceNodeName, sourceNodePort,
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
index e576066ff..be4e3de94 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
@@ -77,6 +77,22 @@ replicate_reference_tables(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
  */
 void
 EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodes(void)
+{
+	EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodesExtended(TRANSFER_MODE_BLOCK_WRITES);
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodesExtended ensures that a shard placement for every
+ * reference table exists on all nodes. If a node does not have a set of shard placements,
+ * then master_copy_shard_placement is called in a subtransaction to pull the data to the
+ * new node.
+ *
+ * The transferMode is passed on to the implementation of the copy to control the locks
+ * and transferMode.
+ */
+void
+EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodesExtended(char transferMode)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Prevent this function from running concurrently with itself.
@@ -192,7 +208,7 @@ EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodes(void)
 			StringInfo placementCopyCommand =
 				CopyShardPlacementToWorkerNodeQuery(sourceShardPlacement,
 													newWorkerNode,
-													TRANSFER_MODE_BLOCK_WRITES);
+													transferMode);
 			ExecuteCriticalRemoteCommand(connection, placementCopyCommand->data);
 			RemoteTransactionCommit(connection);
 		}
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/coordinator_protocol.h b/src/include/distributed/coordinator_protocol.h
index ce774acc3..50743a60f 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/coordinator_protocol.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/coordinator_protocol.h
@@ -176,5 +176,6 @@ extern ShardPlacement * SearchShardPlacementInList(List *shardPlacementList,
 extern ShardPlacement * SearchShardPlacementInListOrError(List *shardPlacementList,
 														  const char *nodeName,
 														  uint32 nodePort);
+extern char LookupShardTransferMode(Oid shardReplicationModeOid);
 
 #endif   /* COORDINATOR_PROTOCOL_H */
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/reference_table_utils.h b/src/include/distributed/reference_table_utils.h
index 0ef44c601..34bd0c9ab 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/reference_table_utils.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/reference_table_utils.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "distributed/metadata_cache.h"
 
 extern void EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodes(void);
+extern void EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodesExtended(char transferMode);
 extern uint32 CreateReferenceTableColocationId(void);
 extern void DeleteAllReferenceTablePlacementsFromNodeGroup(int32 groupId);
 extern int CompareOids(const void *leftElement, const void *rightElement);