diff --git a/docker/amavis/Dockerfile b/docker/amavis/Dockerfile
index c14d8456..2d964a01 100644
--- a/docker/amavis/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/amavis/Dockerfile
@@ -1,39 +1,40 @@
 FROM apheleia/almalinux9
 
 # ENV LANG=en_US.utf8
 # ENV LC_ALL=en_US.utf8
 # ENV APP_DOMAIN
 # ENV LMTP_DESTINATION
 # ENV DB_HOST
 # ENV DB_USERNAME
 # ENV DB_PASSWORD
 # ENV DB_DATABASE
 
 RUN dnf -y install \
     amavis \
     spamassassin \
     clamav \
     clamav-update && \
     dnf clean all
 
 WORKDIR /root/
 
 COPY /rootfs /
 
 RUN mkdir -p /var/run/amavisd /var/dkim && \
     chmod -R 777 /var/run/amavisd /var/dkim && \
     mkdir -p /var/spool/amavisd && \
     chmod 777 /var/spool/amavisd
 
 VOLUME [ "/var/spool/amavisd" ]
 VOLUME [ "/var/lib/spamassassin" ]
 VOLUME [ "/var/lib/clamav" ]
 VOLUME [ "/var/dkim" ]
 
 ENV POSTFIX_HOST=postfix
 ENV DKIM_IDENTIFIER=dkim20240318
 ENV DEBUG=false
+ENV CLAMD=false
 
 CMD ["/init.sh"]
 
 EXPOSE 13024/tcp
diff --git a/docker/amavis/rootfs/init.sh b/docker/amavis/rootfs/init.sh
index 8dea5292..515067fb 100755
--- a/docker/amavis/rootfs/init.sh
+++ b/docker/amavis/rootfs/init.sh
@@ -1,67 +1,72 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 set -e
 
 CONFIG="/etc/amavisd/amavisd.conf"
 sed -i -r \
     -e "s|APP_DOMAIN|$APP_DOMAIN|g" \
     -e "s|POSTFIX_HOST|$POSTFIX_HOST|g" \
     $CONFIG
 
 DKIMKEYFILE="/var/dkim/$APP_DOMAIN.$DKIM_IDENTIFIER.pem"
 if ! [ -f $DKIMKEYFILE ]; then
     echo "Generating the DKIM keys at: $DKIMKEYFILE"
     amavisd -c $CONFIG genrsa $DKIMKEYFILE 2048
     chmod g+r $DKIMKEYFILE
     chgrp amavis $DKIMKEYFILE
     chown -R amavis:amavis /var/dkim
 fi
 
 sed -i -r \
     -e "s|DKIM_IDENTIFIER|$DKIM_IDENTIFIER|g" \
     $CONFIG
 
 # We use these to check if the process has started, so ensure we aren't dealing wiht leftover files
 rm -f /var/run/amavisd/amavisd.pid
 rm -f /var/run/amavisd/clamd.pid
 
 mkdir -p /var/run/amavisd
 chmod 777 /var/run/amavisd
 mkdir -p /var/spool/amavisd/tmp
 mkdir -p /var/spool/amavisd/db
 mkdir -p /var/spool/amavisd/quarantine
 chown -R amavis:amavis /var/spool/amavisd
 chown -R clamupdate:clamupdate /var/lib/clamav
 
 echo "DKIM keys:"
 amavisd -c $CONFIG showkeys
 
-# Initialize the clamav db. This command will have a non-zero exit code if no update is available.
-echo "Updating clamav db"
-/usr/bin/freshclam --datadir=/var/lib/clamav
-# Update once per day via daemon
-/usr/bin/freshclam -d -c 1
+# Initialize the clamav db.
+if $CLAMD; then
+    echo "Updating clamav db"
+    # If we run this too frequently we'll be rate-limited via HTTP 429
+    /usr/bin/freshclam --datadir=/var/lib/clamav
+    # Update once per day via daemon
+    /usr/bin/freshclam -d -c 1
+fi
 
 # Update the spam db every 30h
 echo "Updating spamassassin db"
 sa-update -v || :
 ##FIXME this probably doesn't work since we exec to amavisd
 #(
 #while true; do
 #	sleep 30h
 #	sa-update -v
 #done
 #) &
 
-echo "Starting clamd"
-clamd --config-file=/etc/clamd.d/amavisd.conf
+if $CLAMD; then
+    echo "Starting clamd"
+    clamd --config-file=/etc/clamd.d/amavisd.conf
+fi
 
 # This allows to kill amavis to reload the config or code in a running container
 if $DEBUG; then
     echo "Starting amavis in debug mode"
     while true; do
         amavisd -c $CONFIG foreground
     done
 fi
 echo "Starting amavis"
 exec amavisd -c $CONFIG foreground