diff --git a/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/uri/UriTemplate.java b/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/uri/UriTemplate.java
index 003a4b2f9f..49bf77f46b 100644
--- a/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/uri/UriTemplate.java
+++ b/core-common/src/main/java/org/glassfish/jersey/uri/UriTemplate.java
@@ -887,7 +887,7 @@ private static String createURI(
                         offset, encode, mapValues, sb);
                 if (sb.length() > sbLength) {
                     char firstQuery = sb.charAt(sbLength);
-                    if (firstQuery != '?' && firstQuery != '&') {
+                    if (firstQuery != '?' && (query.trim().charAt(0) != '{' || firstQuery != '&')) {
                         sb.insert(sbLength, '?');
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/tests/e2e-core-common/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/e2e/common/uri/internal/JerseyUriBuilderTest.java b/tests/e2e-core-common/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/e2e/common/uri/internal/JerseyUriBuilderTest.java
index c5acb8845e..fddf1498be 100644
--- a/tests/e2e-core-common/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/e2e/common/uri/internal/JerseyUriBuilderTest.java
+++ b/tests/e2e-core-common/src/test/java/org/glassfish/jersey/tests/e2e/common/uri/internal/JerseyUriBuilderTest.java
@@ -1659,6 +1659,17 @@ public void testQueryParamStyleMultiPairs() {
                          "key1=val1&key1=val2&key2=val1&key1=val3");
     }
 
+
+    @Test
+    public void testQueryParam() {
+        URI uri = new JerseyUriBuilder().scheme("http").host("localhost").port(8080).uri("some")
+                    .replacePath("NewPath")
+                    .replaceQuery("&Second")
+                    .build();
+        Assertions.assertEquals("&Second", uri.getQuery());
+    }
+
+
     @Test
     void testFragment5269() throws URISyntaxException {
         final URI uri = new URI("http://www.example.org/foo.xml#xpointer(//Rube)").normalize();