diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index abac0bd..9837690 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ SHELL=/bin/bash
 short_ver = 2.1.3
 long_ver = $(shell git describe --long 2>/dev/null || echo $(short_ver)-0-unknown-g`git describe --always`)
 
+USE_RE2=${USE_RE2}
+
 all: py-egg
 
 PYTHON ?= python3
diff --git a/journalpump/journalpump.py b/journalpump/journalpump.py
index abbd9c3..c8622e5 100644
--- a/journalpump/journalpump.py
+++ b/journalpump/journalpump.py
@@ -17,10 +17,15 @@
 import fnmatch
 import json
 import logging
-import re
 import select
 import time
 import uuid
+import os
+
+if os.environ.get("USE_RE2"):
+    import re2 as re
+else:
+    import re
 
 _5_MB = 5 * 1024 * 1024
 CHUNK_SIZE = 5000
diff --git a/journalpump/senders/base.py b/journalpump/senders/base.py
index 4c7d458..1b04caf 100644
--- a/journalpump/senders/base.py
+++ b/journalpump/senders/base.py
@@ -3,9 +3,15 @@
 
 import logging
 import random
-import re
 import sys
 import time
+import os
+
+if os.environ.get("USE_RE2"):
+    import re2 as re
+else:
+    import re
+
 
 KAFKA_COMPRESSED_MESSAGE_OVERHEAD = 30
 MAX_KAFKA_MESSAGE_SIZE = 1024**2  # 1 MiB
diff --git a/journalpump/senders/elasticsearch_opensearch_sender.py b/journalpump/senders/elasticsearch_opensearch_sender.py
index d377901..e68a1cb 100644
--- a/journalpump/senders/elasticsearch_opensearch_sender.py
+++ b/journalpump/senders/elasticsearch_opensearch_sender.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 import enum
 import json
-import re
 import time
 
 
@@ -72,8 +71,6 @@ def create(*, sender_type: SenderType, config: Dict[str, Any]) -> "Config":
 class _EsOsLogSenderBase(LogSender):
     _DEFAULT_MAX_SENDER_INTERVAL = 10.0
 
-    _INDICIES_URL_REDACTION_REGEXP = r"(\w*?://[A-Za-z0-9\-._~%!$&'()*+,;=]*)(:)([A-Za-z0-9\-._~%!$&'()*+,;=]*)(@)"
-
     _ONE_HOUR_LAST_INDEX_CHECK = 3600
 
     _SUCCESS_HTTP_STATUSES = {HTTPStatus.OK, HTTPStatus.CREATED}
@@ -173,8 +170,7 @@ def send_messages(self, *, messages, cursor) -> bool:
         try:
             es_available = self._load_indices()
             if not es_available:
-                redacted_url = re.sub(self._INDICIES_URL_REDACTION_REGEXP, r"\1\2[REDACTED]\4", self._indices_url)
-                self.log.warning("Waiting for connection to %s for %s", redacted_url, self.name)
+                self.log.warning("Waiting for connection for %s", self.name)
                 self._backoff()
                 return False
             for msg in messages:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f175b49..29dcecf 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ google-auth
 geoip2
 https://github.com/systemd/python-systemd/zipball/master
 typing-extensions
+google-re2
diff --git a/systest/test_rsyslog.py b/systest/test_rsyslog.py
index b3da4eb..e741755 100644
--- a/systest/test_rsyslog.py
+++ b/systest/test_rsyslog.py
@@ -13,11 +13,16 @@
 import logging.handlers
 import os
 import random
-import re
 import socket
 import string
 import threading
 
+if os.environ.get("USE_RE2"):
+    import re2 as re
+else:
+    import re
+
+
 RSYSLOGD = "/usr/sbin/rsyslogd"
 
 RSYSLOGD_TCP_CONF = """
diff --git a/test/test_journalpump.py b/test/test_journalpump.py
index f0df82f..57a2da8 100644
--- a/test/test_journalpump.py
+++ b/test/test_journalpump.py
@@ -30,9 +30,13 @@
 import botocore.session
 import json
 import pytest
-import re
 import responses
+import os
 
+if os.environ.get("USE_RE2"):
+    import re2 as re
+else:
+    import re
 
 def test_journalpump_init(tmpdir):  # pylint: disable=too-many-statements
     # Logplex sender