diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowNodeTask.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowNodeTask.java
index 9d1fe5d67df98..70d21feea0640 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowNodeTask.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowNodeTask.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public static class Status implements Task.Status {
         }
 
         public Status(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-            this.processedGlobalCheckpoint = in.readVLong();
+            this.processedGlobalCheckpoint = in.readZLong();
         }
 
         public long getProcessedGlobalCheckpoint() {
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public String getWriteableName() {
 
         @Override
         public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
-            out.writeVLong(processedGlobalCheckpoint);
+            out.writeZLong(processedGlobalCheckpoint);
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
index 9f62b014a1826..718a72388a1d5 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
@@ -93,7 +93,10 @@ protected void nodeOperation(AllocatedPersistentTask task, ShardFollowTask param
                 this.client.getRemoteClusterClient(params.getLeaderClusterAlias()) : this.client;
         logger.info("Starting shard following [{}]", params);
         fetchGlobalCheckpoint(client, params.getFollowShardId(),
-                followGlobalCheckPoint -> prepare(leaderClient, shardFollowNodeTask, params, followGlobalCheckPoint), task::markAsFailed);
+                followGlobalCheckPoint -> {
+                        shardFollowNodeTask.updateProcessedGlobalCheckpoint(followGlobalCheckPoint);
+                        prepare(leaderClient, shardFollowNodeTask, params, followGlobalCheckPoint);
+                    }, task::markAsFailed);
     }
 
     void prepare(Client leaderClient, ShardFollowNodeTask task, ShardFollowTask params, long followGlobalCheckPoint) {
@@ -107,10 +110,13 @@ void prepare(Client leaderClient, ShardFollowNodeTask task, ShardFollowTask para
         fetchGlobalCheckpoint(leaderClient, leaderShard, leaderGlobalCheckPoint -> {
             // TODO: check if both indices have the same history uuid
             if (leaderGlobalCheckPoint == followGlobalCheckPoint) {
+                logger.debug("{} no write operations to fetch", followerShard);
                 retry(leaderClient, task, params, followGlobalCheckPoint);
             } else {
                 assert followGlobalCheckPoint < leaderGlobalCheckPoint : "followGlobalCheckPoint [" + followGlobalCheckPoint +
                         "] is not below leaderGlobalCheckPoint [" + leaderGlobalCheckPoint + "]";
+                logger.debug("{} fetching write operations, leaderGlobalCheckPoint={}, followGlobalCheckPoint={}", followerShard,
+                    leaderGlobalCheckPoint, followGlobalCheckPoint);
                 Executor ccrExecutor = threadPool.executor(Ccr.CCR_THREAD_POOL_NAME);
                 Consumer<Exception> handler = e -> {
                     if (e == null) {
@@ -151,8 +157,7 @@ private void fetchGlobalCheckpoint(Client client, ShardId shardId, LongConsumer
                     .findAny();
 
             if (filteredShardStats.isPresent()) {
-                // Treat -1 as 0. If no indexing has happened in leader shard then global checkpoint is -1.
-                final long globalCheckPoint = Math.max(0, filteredShardStats.get().getSeqNoStats().getGlobalCheckpoint());
+                final long globalCheckPoint = filteredShardStats.get().getSeqNoStats().getGlobalCheckpoint();
                 handler.accept(globalCheckPoint);
             } else {
                 errorHandler.accept(new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot find shard stats for shard " + shardId));
@@ -284,7 +289,9 @@ static class ChunkProcessor {
 
         void start(final long from, final long to, final long maxTranslogsBytes) {
             ShardChangesAction.Request request = new ShardChangesAction.Request(leaderShard);
-            request.setMinSeqNo(from);
+            // Treat -1 as 0, because shard changes api min_seq_no is inclusive and therefore it doesn't allow a negative min_seq_no
+            // (If no indexing has happened in leader shard then global checkpoint is -1.)
+            request.setMinSeqNo(Math.max(0, from));
             request.setMaxSeqNo(to);
             request.setMaxTranslogsBytes(maxTranslogsBytes);
             leaderClient.execute(ShardChangesAction.INSTANCE, request, new ActionListener<ShardChangesAction.Response>() {