I got an arm infection near the injection site of one vaccine that was so bad that there was briefly discussion of possibly needing to amputate it if the third round of antibiotics didn’t clear it up. When the primary abscess at the injection site ruptured, I collected over a pint of bloodypusieyuck in the first couple of hours. Fortunately, it began resolving shortly thereafter, but it definitely made me more wary of vaccinations.
That being said, I still got vaccinated for COVID and some other things after that. Because I am capable of taking a deep breath, rationalizing the actual proven risk odds and then deal with my very real anxiety and do the thing I know has the highest chance of being the best course of action (at least sometimes).
Though, I do always ask they do it in my non-dominate arm now, just in case.
IMO it is more likely that we’re more early than late (though an argument can be made that there’s a sweet spot in between the two).
When the universe was lukewarm, I don’t think the conditions existed for life to exist everywhere because there hadn’t been enough stellar nucleosynthesis for there to be astrophysical metals (i.e. anything heavier than helium, with the possible exception of lithium at a very low concentration). Not much useful chemistry can be done with just hydrogen and hellium.
Additionally, planetary systems surrounding earlier generation stars are much rarer than those of the same class at the Sun. Planets that formed around earlier generation stars did not have access to a high enough variety of astrophysical metals to create the complex chemistries that chemical life requires and their host stars were likely too short lived to make advanced evolution possible, even if they had planetary systems.
Planets formed around stars younger than/with higher metallicity are much more likely to be gas giants that would have their own set of issues with the evolution of chemical life (e.g. much lower carbon presence).
The “optimal” time frame for the development of complex life on a planet would theoretically vary by its position compared to the galactic bulge its star formed in, i.e. earlier closer to the galactic center and later further out. Being closer to galactic core makes for a higher chance of being blasted by a supernova or other extremely high energy astronomical event, making for a higher chance of mass extinctions.
If most stars/planets formed much before our sun lacked sufficiently complex chemistry, and those formed much after it lack sufficient carbon and provide a host of gravitational/pressure issues that would inhibit technological development even if evolutionary life did arise, it seems likely that most planets potentially with advanced civilizations are of similar ages. With some slightly older examples nearer the galactic core and some slightly younger ones deeper into the spiral arms.