diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 725c51680145b850badb67ad1b146c5b851bce1e..d658b98dde2248b6d57c2365d7e5b5a6e4792503 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1799,8 +1799,10 @@ esac
 
 if test "$with_chemistry" != "none"; then
    if test "$enable_hand_vec" == "yes"; then
-      if test "$with_hydro" == "gadget2"; then
-      AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot run with hand vectorisation and chemistry yet. Please use --disable-hand-vec])
+      if test "$enable_vec" == "yes"; then
+         if test "$with_hydro" == "gadget2"; then
+            AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot run with hand vectorisation and chemistry yet. Please use --disable-hand-vec])
+         fi
       fi
    fi
 fi