diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/HealthBuildTimeConfig.java b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/HealthBuildTimeConfig.java
index b7bbb6ec3f816..1cca5c30fe8c2 100644
--- a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/HealthBuildTimeConfig.java
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/HealthBuildTimeConfig.java
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 
 @ConfigRoot(name = "health")
 public class HealthBuildTimeConfig {
+    /**
+     * Activate or disable this extension. Disabling this extension means that no health related information is exposed.
+     */
+    @ConfigItem(defaultValue = "true")
+    public boolean enabled;
+
     /**
      * Whether extensions published health check should be enabled.
      */
diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthActive.java b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthActive.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5eaac369674ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthActive.java
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package io.quarkus.smallrye.health.deployment;
+
+import java.util.function.BooleanSupplier;
+
+public class SmallRyeHealthActive implements BooleanSupplier {
+
+    private final HealthBuildTimeConfig config;
+
+    SmallRyeHealthActive(HealthBuildTimeConfig config) {
+        this.config = config;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean getAsBoolean() {
+        return config.enabled;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthFeatureProcessor.java b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthFeatureProcessor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..13d5882b71bf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthFeatureProcessor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package io.quarkus.smallrye.health.deployment;
+
+import io.quarkus.deployment.Feature;
+import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.BuildProducer;
+import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.BuildStep;
+import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.FeatureBuildItem;
+
+public class SmallRyeHealthFeatureProcessor {
+
+    @BuildStep
+    public void defineFeature(BuildProducer<FeatureBuildItem> feature) {
+        feature.produce(new FeatureBuildItem(Feature.SMALLRYE_HEALTH));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthProcessor.java b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthProcessor.java
index 8b7101bf10751..e95a7d4e1b511 100644
--- a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/deployment/SmallRyeHealthProcessor.java
@@ -32,13 +32,12 @@
 import io.quarkus.arc.processor.BuiltinScope;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.Capabilities;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.Capability;
-import io.quarkus.deployment.Feature;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.BuildProducer;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.BuildStep;
+import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.BuildSteps;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.Consume;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.ExecutionTime;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.annotations.Record;
-import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.FeatureBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.HotDeploymentWatchedFileBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.LaunchModeBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.RunTimeConfigurationDefaultBuildItem;
@@ -80,6 +79,7 @@
 import io.vertx.core.Handler;
 import io.vertx.ext.web.RoutingContext;
 
+@BuildSteps(onlyIf = SmallRyeHealthActive.class)
 class SmallRyeHealthProcessor {
     private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(SmallRyeHealthProcessor.class);
 
@@ -157,14 +157,11 @@ void healthCheck(BuildProducer<AdditionalBeanBuildItem> buildItemBuildProducer,
     @Record(ExecutionTime.STATIC_INIT)
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     void build(SmallRyeHealthRecorder recorder,
-            BuildProducer<FeatureBuildItem> feature,
             BuildProducer<ExcludedTypeBuildItem> excludedTypes,
             BuildProducer<AdditionalBeanBuildItem> additionalBean,
             BuildProducer<BeanDefiningAnnotationBuildItem> beanDefiningAnnotation)
             throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
 
-        feature.produce(new FeatureBuildItem(Feature.SMALLRYE_HEALTH));
-
         // Discover the beans annotated with @Health, @Liveness, @Readiness, @Startup, @HealthGroup,
         // @HealthGroups and @Wellness even if no scope is defined
         beanDefiningAnnotation.produce(new BeanDefiningAnnotationBuildItem(LIVENESS, BuiltinScope.SINGLETON.getName()));
diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/test/DeactiveHealthWithConfigTest.java b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/test/DeactiveHealthWithConfigTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a655c4e928a65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-health/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/health/test/DeactiveHealthWithConfigTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package io.quarkus.smallrye.health.test;
+
+import org.jboss.shrinkwrap.api.asset.EmptyAsset;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.RegisterExtension;
+
+import io.quarkus.test.QuarkusUnitTest;
+import io.restassured.RestAssured;
+import io.restassured.parsing.Parser;
+
+class DeactiveHealthWithConfigTest {
+
+    @RegisterExtension
+    static final QuarkusUnitTest config = new QuarkusUnitTest()
+            .withApplicationRoot((jar) -> jar
+                    .addClasses(BasicHealthCheck.class)
+                    .addAsManifestResource(EmptyAsset.INSTANCE, "beans.xml"))
+            .overrideConfigKey("quarkus.health.enabled", "false");
+
+    @Test
+    void testAdditionalJsonPropertyInclusions() {
+        try {
+            RestAssured.defaultParser = Parser.JSON;
+            RestAssured.when().get("/q/health").then()
+                    .statusCode(404);
+        } finally {
+            RestAssured.reset();
+        }
+    }
+
+}