From my perspective, this is sadly, the likely explanation. The media and opposition party was so worked up, that anything at all that came from Trump or his admin, was simply wrong, a lie, etc.
That, in part, was why no one took this thing seriously at the beginning in the US.
In retrospect, the constant hounding and attacks on Trump damaged all US citizens, simply by blunting messages, by causing unnecessary conflict. While Trump is out of office, the leaders who caused this confusion are still in office. And that is wrong. They need to be fired.
Indeed, a reasonably large contingent of those hesitant to get a vaccine, are parroting the (then) opposition politicians, who cast doubt on the processes. How much damage, how many lives have been lost, because these fools wanted to win a political contest, and score political points?
The media bear significant responsibility in this as well. Their consistent efforts at painting the former administration as "full of crap" all the time, as lying all the time, blunted and confused many messages, and forced secretaries of departments to have to try to handle/answer often idiotic questions.
So here we are today. Lab leak, far from being a paranoid fantasy, is a real possibility. And yet, the media is still playing these games.
We in the US, need, need ... to fire all the pols responsible for this. To no longer consume the media products of the organizations that encouraged this. And to stop believing that just because someone on one side says something that the other side has free rights to attack that without regards for facts.
I'm quite disgusted with the interplay between politics, media, and the pandemic.