diff --git a/cmd/lotus-shed/indexes.go b/cmd/lotus-shed/indexes.go
index ed10ab215f6..146acd2aacc 100644
--- a/cmd/lotus-shed/indexes.go
+++ b/cmd/lotus-shed/indexes.go
@@ -173,15 +173,21 @@ var backfillEventsCmd = &cli.Command{
 			}
 			defer tx.Rollback() //nolint:errcheck
 
-			stmtSelectEvent, err := tx.Prepare("SELECT MAX(id) from event WHERE height=? AND tipset_key=? and tipset_key_cid=? and emitter_addr=? and event_index=? and message_cid=? and message_index=? and reverted=false")
+			// same as in chain/events/index.go
+
+			eventExists := `SELECT MAX(id) FROM event WHERE height=? AND tipset_key=? AND tipset_key_cid=? AND emitter_addr=? AND event_index=? AND message_cid=? AND message_index=?`
+			insertEvent := `INSERT OR IGNORE INTO event(height, tipset_key, tipset_key_cid, emitter_addr, event_index, message_cid, message_index, reverted) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)`
+			insertEntry := `INSERT OR IGNORE INTO event_entry(event_id, indexed, flags, key, codec, value) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)`
+
+			stmtEventExists, err := tx.Prepare(eventExists)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			stmtEvent, err := tx.Prepare("INSERT INTO event (height, tipset_key, tipset_key_cid, emitter_addr, event_index, message_cid, message_index, reverted) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)")
+			stmtInsertEvent, err := tx.Prepare(insertEvent)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			stmtEntry, err := tx.Prepare("INSERT INTO event_entry(event_id, indexed, flags, key, codec, value) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)")
+			stmtInsertEntry, err := tx.Prepare(insertEntry)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -225,7 +231,7 @@ var backfillEventsCmd = &cli.Command{
 
 					// select the highest event id that exists in database, or null if none exists
 					var entryID sql.NullInt64
-					err = stmtSelectEvent.QueryRow(
+					err = tx.Stmt(stmtEventExists).QueryRow(
 						currTs.Height(),
 						currTs.Key().Bytes(),
 						tsKeyCid.Bytes(),
@@ -244,7 +250,7 @@ var backfillEventsCmd = &cli.Command{
 					}
 
 					// event does not exist, lets backfill it
-					res, err := tx.Stmt(stmtEvent).Exec(
+					res, err := tx.Stmt(stmtInsertEvent).Exec(
 						currTs.Height(),      // height
 						currTs.Key().Bytes(), // tipset_key
 						tsKeyCid.Bytes(),     // tipset_key_cid
@@ -271,7 +277,7 @@ var backfillEventsCmd = &cli.Command{
 
 					// backfill the event entries
 					for _, entry := range event.Entries {
-						_, err := tx.Stmt(stmtEntry).Exec(
+						_, err := tx.Stmt(stmtInsertEntry).Exec(
 							entryID.Int64,               // event_id
 							isIndexedValue(entry.Flags), // indexed
 							[]byte{entry.Flags},         // flags