diff --git a/internal/nginx/main.go b/internal/nginx/main.go
index 967b9f156..95236b744 100644
--- a/internal/nginx/main.go
+++ b/internal/nginx/main.go
@@ -50,11 +50,17 @@ var StreamSocket = "/tmp/ingress-stream.sock"
 
 var statusLocation = "nginx-status"
 
+var httpClient *http.Client
+
+func init() {
+	httpClient = buildUnixSocketClient(HealthCheckTimeout)
+}
+
 // NewGetStatusRequest creates a new GET request to the internal NGINX status server
 func NewGetStatusRequest(path string) (int, []byte, error) {
-	url := fmt.Sprintf("http+unix://%v%v", statusLocation, path)
+	url := fmt.Sprintf("%v://%v%v", httpunix.Scheme, statusLocation, path)
 
-	res, err := buildUnixSocketClient(HealthCheckTimeout).Get(url)
+	res, err := httpClient.Get(url)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, nil, err
 	}
@@ -70,14 +76,14 @@ func NewGetStatusRequest(path string) (int, []byte, error) {
 
 // NewPostStatusRequest creates a new POST request to the internal NGINX status server
 func NewPostStatusRequest(path, contentType string, data interface{}) (int, []byte, error) {
-	url := fmt.Sprintf("http+unix://%v%v", statusLocation, path)
+	url := fmt.Sprintf("%v://%v%v", httpunix.Scheme, statusLocation, path)
 
 	buf, err := json.Marshal(data)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, nil, err
 	}
 
-	res, err := buildUnixSocketClient(HealthCheckTimeout).Post(url, contentType, bytes.NewReader(buf))
+	res, err := httpClient.Post(url, contentType, bytes.NewReader(buf))
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, nil, err
 	}
@@ -112,11 +118,11 @@ func GetServerBlock(conf string, host string) (string, error) {
 
 // ReadNginxConf reads the nginx configuration file into a string
 func ReadNginxConf() (string, error) {
-	return ReadFileToString("/etc/nginx/nginx.conf")
+	return readFileToString("/etc/nginx/nginx.conf")
 }
 
-// ReadFileToString reads any file into a string
-func ReadFileToString(path string) (string, error) {
+// readFileToString reads any file into a string
+func readFileToString(path string) (string, error) {
 	f, err := os.Open(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err