Next.js Middleware Removing Cookies on Protected Routes (Works Locally)

This is my middleware.js file for the front end in Next.js. I want to create protected routes so that if a user doesn't have an access token, they are redirected to /. However, the cookies from the frontend are getting removed when navigating to a protected route, even if the token is present. Interestingly, this issue does not occur when I run my backend locally.

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';

const protectedRoutes = [
  '/home',
  '/home/activeusers',
  '/home/apimaster/add-sub-company',
  '/home/apimaster/api-companies',
  '/home/apimaster/api-companies/details',
  '/home/apimaster/api-companies/disabled',
  '/home/apimaster/api-companies/employees',
  '/home/apimaster/disabled-sub-companies',
  '/home/apimaster/sub-companies',
  '/home/apimaster/transactionreport',
  '/home/apimaster/withdrawalrequest',
  '/home/articlesection',
  '/home/attendance',
  '/home/company/addcompany',
  '/home/company/company-list',
  '/home/company/details',
  '/home/company/disabled',
  '/home/company/employees',
  '/home/dailypay',
  '/home/dashboard',
  '/home/employee/add',
  '/home/employee/details',
  '/home/employee/disabled',
  '/home/employee/list',
  '/home/logs',
  '/home/managebanks',
  '/home/messages',
  '/home/paymentstatus',
  '/home/roles-and-permission/roles',
  '/home/roles-and-permission/users/add',
  '/home/roles-and-permission/users/list',
  '/home/transactionreports',
  '/home/userandrole',
  '/home/whitelabel',
  '/home/withdrawalreport/details',
  '/home/withdrawalreport/list',
  '/home/withdrawalrequest',
  '/home/withdrawalrequest/edit'
];

export default function middleware(request) {
  const token = request.cookies.get('access_token')?.value;
  const { pathname } = request.nextUrl;

  if (token && pathname === '/') {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL('/home', request.url));
  }

  if (!token && protectedRoutes.includes(pathname)) {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL('/', request.url));
  }

  return NextResponse.next();
}

export const config = {
  matcher: protectedRoutes
};

This is how I am setting the cookie in backend:

res.cookie('access_token', keycloakRes.access_token, {
  httpOnly: true,
  secure: true,
  sameSite: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'dev' ? 'lax' : 'none',
  maxAge: accessTokenExpirey,
  path: '/'
});