diff --git a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.cc b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.cc
index 96ec1ea7069c8..10cd09502cf9a 100644
--- a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.cc
+++ b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.cc
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ PixelThresholdClusterizer::PixelThresholdClusterizer(edm::ParameterSet const& co
       theOffset_L1(conf.getParameter<int>("VCaltoElectronOffset_L1")),
       theElectronPerADCGain(conf.getParameter<double>("ElectronPerADCGain")),
       doPhase2Calibration(conf.getParameter<bool>("Phase2Calibration")),
+      dropDuplicates(conf.getParameter<bool>("DropDuplicates")),
       thePhase2ReadoutMode(conf.getParameter<int>("Phase2ReadoutMode")),
       thePhase2DigiBaseline(conf.getParameter<double>("Phase2DigiBaseline")),
       thePhase2KinkADC(conf.getParameter<int>("Phase2KinkADC")),
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ void PixelThresholdClusterizer::fillPSetDescription(edm::ParameterSetDescription
   desc.add<int>("ClusterThreshold_L1", 4000);
   desc.add<int>("ClusterThreshold", 4000);
   desc.add<double>("ElectronPerADCGain", 135.);
+  desc.add<bool>("DropDuplicates", true);
   desc.add<bool>("Phase2Calibration", false);
   desc.add<int>("Phase2ReadoutMode", -1);
   desc.add<double>("Phase2DigiBaseline", 1200.);
@@ -296,8 +298,9 @@ void PixelThresholdClusterizer::copy_to_buffer(DigiIterator begin, DigiIterator
        of view of the final cluster charge since these are typically >= 20000.
     */
 
-    thePixelOccurrence[theBuffer.index(row, col)]++;                     // increment the occurrence counter
-    uint8_t occurrence = thePixelOccurrence[theBuffer.index(row, col)];  // get the occurrence counter
+    thePixelOccurrence[theBuffer.index(row, col)]++;  // increment the occurrence counter
+    uint8_t occurrence =
+        (!dropDuplicates) ? 1 : thePixelOccurrence[theBuffer.index(row, col)];  // get the occurrence counter
 
     switch (occurrence) {
       // the 1st occurrence (standard treatment)
diff --git a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.h b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.h
index 70e2964cff0c1..77ac94bb2b7e0 100644
--- a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.h
+++ b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/plugins/PixelThresholdClusterizer.h
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ class dso_hidden PixelThresholdClusterizer : public PixelClusterizerBase {
   const double theElectronPerADCGain;  //  ADC to electrons conversion
 
   const bool doPhase2Calibration;      // The ADC --> electrons calibration is for phase-2 tracker
+  const bool dropDuplicates;           // Enabling dropping duplicate pixels
   const int thePhase2ReadoutMode;      // Readout mode of the phase-2 IT digitizer
   const double thePhase2DigiBaseline;  // Threshold above which digis are measured in the phase-2 IT
   const int thePhase2KinkADC;          // ADC count at which the kink in the dual slop kicks in
diff --git a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/python/SiPixelClusterizer_cfi.py b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/python/SiPixelClusterizer_cfi.py
index 3e0591d564bb2..91c5cecb848bf 100644
--- a/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/python/SiPixelClusterizer_cfi.py
+++ b/RecoLocalTracker/SiPixelClusterizer/python/SiPixelClusterizer_cfi.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 from SimTracker.SiPhase2Digitizer.phase2TrackerDigitizer_cfi import PixelDigitizerAlgorithmCommon
 phase2_tracker.toModify(siPixelClusters, # FIXME
   src = 'simSiPixelDigis:Pixel',
+  DropDuplicates = False, # do not drop duplicates for phase-2 until the digitizer can handle them consistently
   MissCalibrate = False,
   Phase2Calibration = True,
   Phase2ReadoutMode = PixelDigitizerAlgorithmCommon.Phase2ReadoutMode.value(), # Flag to decide Readout Mode : linear TDR (-1), dual slope with slope parameters (+1,+2,+3,+4 ...) with threshold subtraction