To a neutral mind, it's obvious that it's a case by case matter. Some vaccines are not worth taking, and some are stupid not to take.
That nuance is intolerable in a democratic society. Instead, everyone is expected to take a position, and then dig in on it - magnifying it into absurd absolutes - and then fight the other side to the bitter end.
The result of this is that people who were really just "I don't like needles" now turn it into a sophisticated and defiant movement against vaccination as a concept.
And on the other side, people who were just annoyed that others were not contributing to herd immunity end up wanting the other side vaccinated by force.
And this just makes the whole thing worse because why care about herd immunity if you basically hate your fellow citizens as "usually enemies".
Unless you're an expert in a field why would you try to draw a conclusion yourself especially about something as complex as vaccines
Throughout that time the majority have been aware that vaccines are there for the major risks location by location .. some vaccines are only useful if you're travelling to an equatorial hotspot for example.
Vaccine hesitancy hasn't come about because of democratic thinking, it's grown
* because anti vaxxers have had the means to amplify their message via social media,
* because fear of COVID created a fertile ground for that message ... AND
* a small group of quack medicine grifters put a substantial amount of effort into creating almost all the ground zero anti vaccine memes, messages, misleading statistics, "just asking" thought lines etc.