diff --git a/scripts/deploy/github/helper-functions.sh b/scripts/deploy/github/helper-functions.sh
index 7017d5c8b1d..0b3933ed891 100644
--- a/scripts/deploy/github/helper-functions.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy/github/helper-functions.sh
@@ -71,22 +71,22 @@ wait_for_pods () {
     while [[ $i -lt $max_retries ]]
     do
         local pods
-        local statuses
+        local ready_pods
         local num_pods
-        local num_running
+        local num_ready
+
         pods=$(kubectl get pod -n "$namespace" --no-headers 2>/dev/null)
 
         if [[ -z $pods ]]; then
             echo "No pods found or error retrieving pods."
         else
-            statuses=$(echo "$pods" | awk '{print $3}')
-            num_pods=$(echo "$statuses" | wc -l | xargs)
-            num_running=$(echo "$statuses" | grep -cE 'Running|Completed')
+            ready_pods=$(echo "$pods" | awk '$2 == $3 {print $0}')
+            num_pods=$(echo "$pods" | wc -l | xargs)
+            num_ready=$(echo "$ready_pods" | wc -l | xargs)
 
-            local msg="${num_running}/${num_pods} pods running in \"${namespace}\"."
+            local msg="${num_ready}/${num_pods} pods are ready in \"${namespace}\"."
 
-            if [[ $num_running -ne $num_pods ]]
-            then
+            if [[ $num_ready -ne $num_pods ]]; then
                 # for debugging
                 # kubectl get pod -n "$namespace" | grep '0/1' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kubectl describe pod -n "$namespace"
                 echo "$msg Checking again in ${sleep_time}s."