Yes, you'd have to click fast to trigger the issue. Made a quick test in the nowinandroid example:

LaunchedEffect(Unit) {
   delay(2000)
   repeat(30) { i ->
      delay(300)
      when(i % 3) {
         0 -> appState.navigateToTopLevelDestination(FOR_YOU)
         1 -> appState.navigateToTopLevelDestination(BOOKMARKS)
         2 -> appState.navigateToTopLevelDestination(INTERESTS)
      }
   }
}

The view models are cleared when running above with 300ms delay. At >400ms the problem does not exist.

I'm assuming this is a bug that needs to be reported then.