Honestly that was a risk we all knew about, but the risk of dying from the disease was much higher. That's how it works. Now we'll have these data points to make new medicines safer, because that's what we do.
Public health is effectively a multidimensional utilitarianism problem and the mainstream medical establishment chose to de-emphasize legitimate problems, likely because they considered it important to reach high vaccination rates, and any message that would cause people to decline the vaccine was viewed as affecting the rates significantly. Most of the major officials have done their mea culpas, and I think it's high time that we actually invest more into addressing vaccine side effects.
Anecdotally, I was at the doctor's office today and was offered shingrix since I'm over 50. Shingles is terrible, but my doctor basically talked me out of getting the vaccine, by explaining that it had significant and common side effects (sore arm, puffy arm, tired feeling) and that I wasn't really at high risk (other than my age). She also no longer prescribes dual vax (for example, flu + pneumo at the same time), also because of commonly reported side effects (again anecdotally, in my case when I got both, my whole left arm was useless for days and I felt sick, tired, and pained for over a week).
1 in 3 unvaccinated adults will get shingles. https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/surveillance.html#:~:text=Shing....
The shingles vaccine can pack a wallop, but shingles pain is extreme and can persist years after the initial illness. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12093-posther...
My doctor is an expert in giving advice to people based on her org's current recommendations. I also independently looked at what little information I could glean and don't see anything deeply wrong with her suggestion. I also can easily change my mind, and with a single trip to my normal pharmacist (twice in ~6 months) and get vaccinated at any time that I choose. I'm lucky enough that I can take 3 days of sick leave each time so I'm not trying to work while experiencing side effects (for example, I lost about 2-3 days of work when I had pneumo+flu vaccine a few years ago).
public health and vaccines is a complicated subject; I am no expert, but I can read into the literature and talk to people who work in the field. Please do not assume I am simply blindly following a mistaken doctor's suggestion.