diff --git a/src/core/ObservableQuery.ts b/src/core/ObservableQuery.ts
index d32122ee0b5..0ca64231bb8 100644
--- a/src/core/ObservableQuery.ts
+++ b/src/core/ObservableQuery.ts
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ export class ObservableQuery<
 
   // Original value of this.options.fetchPolicy (defaulting to "cache-first"),
   // from whenever the ObservableQuery was first created.
-  public initialFetchPolicy: WatchQueryFetchPolicy;
+  private initialFetchPolicy: WatchQueryFetchPolicy;
 
   private isTornDown: boolean;
   private queryManager: QueryManager<any>;
diff --git a/src/core/__tests__/ObservableQuery.ts b/src/core/__tests__/ObservableQuery.ts
index d1b585fe71e..33a2ad5bbbb 100644
--- a/src/core/__tests__/ObservableQuery.ts
+++ b/src/core/__tests__/ObservableQuery.ts
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@ describe('ObservableQuery', () => {
       });
 
       expect(observable.options.fetchPolicy).toBe('cache-and-network');
-      expect(observable.initialFetchPolicy).toBe('cache-and-network');
+      expect(observable["initialFetchPolicy"]).toBe('cache-and-network');
 
       subscribeAndCount(reject, observable, (handleCount, result) => {
         expect(result.error).toBeUndefined();