Ошибка ConnectionError при простое бота ВК

Сделал простого бота на ВК, который общается с пользователями.

Использовал для этих целей класс-обёртку над VK API.

Кусок кода с классом:

class VkApiConnector:
    """
    Класс для использования VK API
    """

    class MyVkLongPoll(VkLongPoll):
        """
        Переопределение класса с LongPoll для обработки типовых ошибок
        Позволяет более эффективно пользоваться ботов
        """

        def listen(self):
            while True:
                try:
                    for _event in self.check():
                        yield _event
                except Exception as err:
                    print('Longpoll Error (VK):', err)

    def __init__(self, token):
        """
        Инициализация VK API
        :param token: Токен для группы ВК
        """
        vk_session = vk_api.VkApi(token=token)

        self.longpoll = self.MyVkLongPoll(vk_session)

        self.vk = vk_session.get_api()

    def send_message(self, peer_id, message, keyboard=None, attachment=None):
        """
        Отправка сообщения пользователю
        :param peer_id: VK ID пользователя
        :param message: Сообщение пользователю
        :param keyboard: Json с клавиатурой
        :param attachment: Приложение к сообщению
        """
        self.vk.messages.send(
            user_id=peer_id,
            random_id=int(time.time()),
            message=message,
            keyboard=keyboard,
            attachment=attachment
        )

Проблема в том, что когда бот некоторое время просто стоит без дела, то при отправке ему в чат сообщения он просто падает с ошибкой

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 670, in urlopen
    httplib_response = self._make_request(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 426, in _make_request
    six.raise_from(e, None)
  File "<string>", line 3, in raise_from
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 421, in _make_request
    httplib_response = conn.getresponse()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 1332, in getresponse
    response.begin()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 303, in begin
    version, status, reason = self._read_status()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 264, in _read_status
    line = str(self.fp.readline(_MAXLINE + 1), "iso-8859-1")
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/socket.py", line 669, in readinto
    return self._sock.recv_into(b)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/ssl.py", line 1241, in recv_into
    return self.read(nbytes, buffer)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/ssl.py", line 1099, in read
    return self._sslobj.read(len, buffer)
ConnectionResetError: [Errno 54] Connection reset by peer

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 439, in send
    resp = conn.urlopen(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 726, in urlopen
    retries = retries.increment(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/util/retry.py", line 403, in increment
    raise six.reraise(type(error), error, _stacktrace)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/packages/six.py", line 734, in reraise
    raise value.with_traceback(tb)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 670, in urlopen
    httplib_response = self._make_request(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 426, in _make_request
    six.raise_from(e, None)
  File "<string>", line 3, in raise_from
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 421, in _make_request
    httplib_response = conn.getresponse()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 1332, in getresponse
    response.begin()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 303, in begin
    version, status, reason = self._read_status()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/http/client.py", line 264, in _read_status
    line = str(self.fp.readline(_MAXLINE + 1), "iso-8859-1")
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/socket.py", line 669, in readinto
    return self._sock.recv_into(b)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/ssl.py", line 1241, in recv_into
    return self.read(nbytes, buffer)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/3.8.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/ssl.py", line 1099, in read
    return self._sslobj.read(len, buffer)
urllib3.exceptions.ProtocolError: ('Connection aborted.', ConnectionResetError(54, 'Connection reset by peer'))

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "vk_bot.py", line 100, in <module>
    api.send_message(
  File "/Users/l.marder/Documents/Coding/VkBelbinBot/engine/vk_connector.py", line 46, in send_message
    self.vk.messages.send(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/vk_api/vk_api.py", line 681, in __call__
    return self._vk.method(self._method, kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/vk_api/vk_api.py", line 610, in method
    response = self.http.post(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 578, in post
    return self.request('POST', url, data=data, json=json, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 530, in request
    resp = self.send(prep, **send_kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 643, in send
    r = adapter.send(request, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 498, in send
    raise ConnectionError(err, request=request)
requests.exceptions.ConnectionError: ('Connection aborted.', ConnectionResetError(54, 'Connection reset by peer'))

Казалось, что подобные ошибки я должен был подавлять в try-except блоке MyVkLongPoll, но нет.

Что можно сделать для решения проблемы? Быстрая идея: сделать рядом бота, который бы кидал сообщение как healthcheck, но на практике это должно быть не очень.