I've worked with Apache Kafka at massive (50+ Gbps) scales. It's a proper nightmare. When it breaks – it breaks fast and violently.
But the problem is that Apache Kafka (and more modern Kafka-compatible alternatives like Redpanda < obligatory mention) solve a need for a durable streaming log that other systems cannot offer. The access patterns, requirements, use cases, ecosystem, etc, are different from those of traditional databases and require a proper streaming solution.
Streaming from a traditional database is kinda a solved problem. Why not just use a managed Kafka provider with a change data capture (CDC) capability if you don't want to deal with Kafka yourself? At least then you get to use all of the tools in the vibrant Kafka ecosystem.