diff --git a/src/agent/Cargo.lock b/src/agent/Cargo.lock
index 16ddaca605..3a8387d47f 100644
--- a/src/agent/Cargo.lock
+++ b/src/agent/Cargo.lock
@@ -1798,7 +1798,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "slog",
  "thiserror",
- "vsock",
+ "tokio",
+ "tokio-vsock",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/src/agent/vsock-exporter/Cargo.toml b/src/agent/vsock-exporter/Cargo.toml
index acb4b5c2fa..e822ac695d 100644
--- a/src/agent/vsock-exporter/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/agent/vsock-exporter/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@ libc = "0.2.94"
 thiserror = "1.0.24"
 opentelemetry = { version = "0.14.0", features=["serialize"] }
 serde = { version = "1.0.126", features = ["derive"] }
-vsock = "0.2.3"
+tokio-vsock = "0.3.1"
 bincode = "1.3.3"
 byteorder = "1.4.3"
 slog = { version = "2.5.2", features = ["dynamic-keys", "max_level_trace", "release_max_level_info"] }
 async-trait = "0.1.50"
+tokio = "1.2.0"
diff --git a/src/agent/vsock-exporter/src/lib.rs b/src/agent/vsock-exporter/src/lib.rs
index 99aaf341bb..e0e91c0cd9 100644
--- a/src/agent/vsock-exporter/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/agent/vsock-exporter/src/lib.rs
@@ -16,11 +16,12 @@ use async_trait::async_trait;
 use byteorder::{ByteOrder, NetworkEndian};
 use opentelemetry::sdk::export::trace::{ExportResult, SpanData, SpanExporter};
 use opentelemetry::sdk::export::ExportError;
-use slog::{error, o, Logger};
-use std::io::{ErrorKind, Write};
-use std::net::Shutdown;
-use std::sync::Mutex;
-use vsock::{SockAddr, VsockStream};
+use slog::{error, info, o, Logger};
+use std::io::ErrorKind;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use tokio::io::AsyncWriteExt;
+use tokio::sync::Mutex;
+use tokio_vsock::VsockStream;
 
 const ANY_CID: &str = "any";
 
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ const DEFAULT_PORT: u32 = 10240;
 pub struct Exporter {
     port: u32,
     cid: u32,
-    conn: Mutex<VsockStream>,
+    conn: Option<Arc<Mutex<VsockStream>>>,
     logger: Logger,
 }
 
@@ -70,7 +71,12 @@ fn make_io_error(desc: String) -> std::io::Error {
 }
 
 // Send a trace span to the forwarder running on the host.
-fn write_span(writer: &mut dyn Write, span: &SpanData) -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
+async fn write_span(
+    writer: Arc<Mutex<VsockStream>>,
+    span: &SpanData,
+) -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
+    let mut writer = writer.lock().await;
+
     let encoded_payload: Vec<u8> =
         bincode::serialize(&span).map_err(|e| make_io_error(e.to_string()))?;
 
@@ -83,18 +89,17 @@ fn write_span(writer: &mut dyn Write, span: &SpanData) -> Result<(), std::io::Er
     NetworkEndian::write_u64(&mut payload_len_as_bytes, payload_len);
 
     // Send the header
-    writer
-        .write_all(&payload_len_as_bytes)
-        .map_err(|e| make_io_error(format!("failed to write trace header: {:?}", e)))?;
+    writer.write_all(&payload_len_as_bytes).await?;
 
-    writer
-        .write_all(&encoded_payload)
-        .map_err(|e| make_io_error(format!("failed to write trace payload: {:?}", e)))
+    writer.write_all(&encoded_payload).await
 }
 
-fn handle_batch(writer: &mut dyn Write, batch: Vec<SpanData>) -> ExportResult {
+async fn handle_batch(
+    writer: Arc<Mutex<VsockStream>>,
+    batch: Vec<SpanData>,
+) -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
     for span_data in batch {
-        write_span(writer, &span_data).map_err(Error::IOError)?;
+        write_span(writer.clone(), &span_data).await?;
     }
 
     Ok(())
@@ -103,31 +108,32 @@ fn handle_batch(writer: &mut dyn Write, batch: Vec<SpanData>) -> ExportResult {
 #[async_trait]
 impl SpanExporter for Exporter {
     async fn export(&mut self, batch: Vec<SpanData>) -> ExportResult {
-        let conn = self.conn.lock();
+        if self.conn.is_none() {
+            let conn = connect_vsock(self.cid, self.port).await.map(|e| {
+                error!(self.logger, "failed to obtain connection"; "error" => format!("{:?}", e));
+                e
+            })?;
 
-        match conn {
-            Ok(mut c) => handle_batch(&mut *c, batch),
-            Err(e) => {
-                error!(self.logger, "failed to obtain connection";
-                        "error" => format!("{}", e));
-
-                return Err(Error::ConnectionError(e.to_string()).into());
-            }
+            self.conn = Some(Arc::new(Mutex::new(conn)));
         }
+
+        handle_batch(self.conn.as_ref().unwrap().clone(), batch)
+            .await
+            .map_err(|e| {
+                error!(self.logger, "handle_batch error: {:?}", e);
+                if e.kind() == ErrorKind::NotConnected {
+                    info!(self.logger, "drop connection");
+                    self.conn.take();
+                }
+
+                Error::IOError(e)
+            })?;
+
+        Ok(())
     }
 
     fn shutdown(&mut self) {
-        let conn = match self.conn.lock() {
-            Ok(conn) => conn,
-            Err(e) => {
-                error!(self.logger, "failed to obtain connection";
-                        "error" => format!("{}", e));
-                return;
-            }
-        };
-
-        conn.shutdown(Shutdown::Write)
-            .expect("failed to shutdown VSOCK connection");
+        self.conn.take();
     }
 }
 
@@ -169,8 +175,6 @@ impl Builder {
     pub fn init(self) -> Exporter {
         let Builder { port, cid, logger } = self;
 
-        let sock_addr = SockAddr::new_vsock(self.cid, self.port);
-
         let cid_str: String;
 
         if self.cid == libc::VMADDR_CID_ANY {
@@ -179,18 +183,18 @@ impl Builder {
             cid_str = format!("{}", self.cid);
         }
 
-        let msg = format!(
-            "failed to connect to VSOCK server (port: {}, cid: {}) - {}",
-            self.port, cid_str, "ensure trace forwarder is running on host"
-        );
-
-        let conn = VsockStream::connect(&sock_addr).expect(&msg);
-
         Exporter {
             port,
             cid,
-            conn: Mutex::new(conn),
+            conn: None,
             logger: logger.new(o!("cid" => cid_str, "port" => port)),
         }
     }
 }
+
+async fn connect_vsock(cid: u32, port: u32) -> Result<VsockStream, Error> {
+    match VsockStream::connect(cid, port).await {
+        Ok(conn) => Ok(conn),
+        Err(e) => Err(Error::ConnectionError(e.to_string())),
+    }
+}