diff --git a/node/pkg/processor/message.go b/node/pkg/processor/message.go
index 43238fa3d4..54c042f18a 100644
--- a/node/pkg/processor/message.go
+++ b/node/pkg/processor/message.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/hex"
 
-	"github.com/certusone/wormhole/node/pkg/db"
 	"github.com/mr-tron/base58"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
@@ -95,39 +94,6 @@ func (p *Processor) handleMessage(ctx context.Context, k *common.MessagePublicat
 		return
 	}
 
-	// Ignore incoming observations when our database already has a quorum VAA for it.
-	// This can occur when we're receiving late observations due to node catchup, and
-	// processing those won't do us any good.
-	//
-	// Exception: if an observation is made within the settlement time (30s), we'll
-	// process it so other nodes won't consider it a miss.
-
-	if existing, err := p.getSignedVAA(*db.VaaIDFromVAA(&v.VAA)); err == nil {
-		if k.Timestamp.Sub(existing.Timestamp) > settlementTime {
-			p.logger.Info("ignoring observation since we already have a quorum VAA for it",
-				zap.Stringer("emitter_chain", k.EmitterChain),
-				zap.Stringer("emitter_address", k.EmitterAddress),
-				zap.String("emitter_address_b58", base58.Encode(k.EmitterAddress.Bytes())),
-				zap.Uint32("nonce", k.Nonce),
-				zap.Stringer("txhash", k.TxHash),
-				zap.String("txhash_b58", base58.Encode(k.TxHash.Bytes())),
-				zap.Time("timestamp", k.Timestamp),
-				zap.String("message_id", v.MessageID()),
-				zap.Duration("settlement_time", settlementTime),
-			)
-			return
-		}
-	} else if err != db.ErrVAANotFound {
-		p.logger.Error("failed to get VAA from db",
-			zap.Stringer("emitter_chain", k.EmitterChain),
-			zap.Stringer("emitter_address", k.EmitterAddress),
-			zap.Uint32("nonce", k.Nonce),
-			zap.Stringer("txhash", k.TxHash),
-			zap.Time("timestamp", k.Timestamp),
-			zap.Error(err),
-		)
-	}
-
 	// Generate digest of the unsigned VAA.
 	digest := v.SigningDigest()
 
diff --git a/node/pkg/processor/processor.go b/node/pkg/processor/processor.go
index a1454066d6..22a7be9202 100644
--- a/node/pkg/processor/processor.go
+++ b/node/pkg/processor/processor.go
@@ -327,32 +327,3 @@ func (p *Processor) haveSignedVAA(id db.VAAID) bool {
 
 	return ok
 }
-
-func (p *Processor) getSignedVAA(id db.VAAID) (*vaa.VAA, error) {
-
-	if id.EmitterChain == vaa.ChainIDPythNet {
-		key := fmt.Sprintf("%v/%v", id.EmitterAddress, id.Sequence)
-		ret, exists := p.pythnetVaas[key]
-		if exists {
-			return ret.v, nil
-		}
-
-		return nil, db.ErrVAANotFound
-	}
-
-	if p.db == nil {
-		return nil, db.ErrVAANotFound
-	}
-
-	vb, err := p.db.GetSignedVAABytes(id)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	vaa, err := vaa.Unmarshal(vb)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic("failed to unmarshal VAA from db")
-	}
-
-	return vaa, err
-}