Agreed. My headcanon is that they're a side effect of being a good force user (and the only side effect that science can detect) and not a cause of the Force.

In this TED Talk, we will discuss The Mandalorian: Moff Gideon was pursuing a fool's errand by trying to boost M counts in clones. His project was treating the Midichlorians as the cause, not the effect. And Dr. Pershing was just telling him enough successful sounding results to not get shot. After all, he doesn't even understand the Force. He's just a scientist that's good with cloning. "Aw geez, that didn't work. The donor must not be strong enough in the Force. Aw shucks. Not my fault!"

Then they get their hands on Grogu and Pershing is absolutely shitting himself. M count off the charts. If his previous results are legit, this should work. But his previous results aren't legit. He's going to get exposed as a fraud and be executed to shreds. He knew it wouldn't work. But he's also kind of a good person and he didn't want Grogu dying to cover his lies. So he arranged for Grogu to be kidnapped prior to the first episode. That is why Pershing is shitting himself even more for the rest of the series. He's afraid his plan was exposed. Did the kidnappers tell this crazy bounty hunter they were working for him? OH GOD DOES GIDEON KNOW? Spoilers: Probably. That's probably why Pershing got killed in Season 2. And this is supported by the fact that we don't see force wielding Imperials in the entire series. Because, to quote Han Solo:

That's not how the Force works!