Is it possible to set the default tab to not be the first one, using standard (vanilla) JavaScript?

I found this page, but it's only for Angular

I'm able to programmatically change the tab upon page load with this code:

<script type="text/javascript">     
    $(function() {
        const triggerEl = document.querySelector('#mytabs a[href="#specific-tab"]');
        mdb.Tab.getInstance(triggerEl).show(); // Select tab by name
    });
</script>

However the screen briefly flashes the contents of the first tab.

I also tried changing the placement of the "active" class in the LI, but that only changes the tab selected and not the contents.

Thank you!