diff --git a/plugins/modules/ec2_vpc_peer.py b/plugins/modules/ec2_vpc_peer.py
index 31f6ea203a7..c7efeff3829 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/ec2_vpc_peer.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/ec2_vpc_peer.py
@@ -221,7 +221,6 @@
 except ImportError:
     pass  # Handled by AnsibleAWSModule
 
-import distutils.version
 import traceback
 
 from ansible_collections.amazon.aws.plugins.module_utils.core import AnsibleAWSModule
@@ -279,7 +278,7 @@ def create_peer_connection(client, module):
     params['VpcId'] = module.params.get('vpc_id')
     params['PeerVpcId'] = module.params.get('peer_vpc_id')
     if module.params.get('peer_region'):
-        if distutils.version.StrictVersion(botocore.__version__) < distutils.version.StrictVersion('1.8.6'):
+        if not module.botocore_at_least('1.8.6'):
             module.fail_json(msg="specifying peer_region parameter requires botocore >= 1.8.6")
         params['PeerRegion'] = module.params.get('peer_region')
     if module.params.get('peer_owner_id'):