diff --git a/lib/platform/github/gh-got-wrapper.js b/lib/platform/github/gh-got-wrapper.js
index cb827e5898e39b07c25b4976b9b3ff516ac0d8f6..3d09a0ccdfc8817c746c77236f067b40baeeb827 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/gh-got-wrapper.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/gh-got-wrapper.js
@@ -80,15 +80,12 @@ async function get(path, options, retries = 5) {
     }
     // istanbul ignore if
     if (method === 'POST' && path === 'graphql') {
-      if (res.body) {
-        res.body = JSON.parse(res.body);
-        if (res.body.errors && retries > 0) {
-          logger.info('Retrying graphql query');
-          return get(path, opts, 0);
-        }
-        if (res.body.data && retries === 0) {
-          logger.info('Recovered graphql query');
-        }
+      if (res.errors && retries > 0) {
+        logger.info('Retrying graphql query');
+        return get(path, opts, 0);
+      }
+      if (res.data && retries === 0) {
+        logger.info('Recovered graphql query');
       }
     }
     return res;
diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index a040e6681d644893a4b892b4c2a1964d3f0d3a57..eb97aea0e6793096465f80ec42eefe8ea230fa53 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ async function getOpenPrs() {
         body: JSON.stringify({ query }),
         json: false,
       };
-      const res = (await get.post(url, options)).body;
+      const res = JSON.parse((await get.post(url, options)).body);
       const prNumbers = [];
       // istanbul ignore if
       if (!res.data) {
@@ -991,7 +991,7 @@ async function getClosedPrs() {
         body: JSON.stringify({ query }),
         json: false,
       };
-      const res = (await get.post(url, options)).body;
+      const res = JSON.parse((await get.post(url, options)).body);
       const prNumbers = [];
       // istanbul ignore if
       if (!res.data) {
@@ -1294,7 +1294,7 @@ async function getVulnerabilityAlerts() {
   };
   let alerts = [];
   try {
-    const res = (await get.post(url, options)).body;
+    const res = JSON.parse((await get.post(url, options)).body);
     if (res.data.repository.vulnerabilityAlerts) {
       alerts = res.data.repository.vulnerabilityAlerts.edges.map(
         edge => edge.node