It's crazy to think about how HIV has killed some ~32 million people, and yet we rarely hear about it anymore. COVID probably won't even hit 4 million deaths (barring some much deadlier variant that we can't easily produce a new vaccine for).
AIDS was a huge deal back when there was no treatment for it.
I also realize that probably depends largely on where you live.
There is also pre exposure prophylaxis, which isn't a vaccine but does dramatically reduce the risk.
Between the two, the disease just isn't the problem it used to be -- assuming you can afford it. In poor counties it's still a problem.
And at the end of the day if it can't spread through casual contact then it's impact on wider society will be limited once it's understood.
Yeah, I think this can largely be explained by the usual tendency to focus on our own backyards. Google says 'nearly 13,000 people with AIDS in the United States die each year', and I assume the rate is similar in other wealthy countries. Even if we assume the full total is causally attributable to AIDS, that's significantly less than the usual toll from flu, which we also tend to treat rather casually (which isn't to say that we should).
Beyond that, we learned to treat it extremely effectively, today if someone who is HIV-positive adheres to their antiretroviral therapy they have a normal life expectancy.