I'd love to see more work done towards other incurable viruses like HSV (no vaccine) and HPV (limited vaccine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B
Yes, there is an effective vaccine but not everyone has access to it for tons of reasons.
Also, about 3.5% of the world's population already has it. That's about 300 million people for whom a vaccine is pointless, and who are at dramatically higher risk of liver cancer (somewhere between 15-50% lifetime risk of an extremely deadly type of cancer), and for whom a cure would literally be life-changing, if available.
The HBV virus is also carcinogenic, which makes it unique[0] among the three big hepatitis viruses. Liver cancer is extremely aggressive and fast-killing, often reaching terminal stages before it is even detectable at all. It is one of the top three causes of cancer deaths worldwide.
Aside from the sheer number of people affected by this, it is also a horrible thing to experience. I have watched someone die from liver cancer, and I would not wish it on anyone.
Contrast to HSV, which is widespread (approximately half the population has at least one HSV latent infection) and causes very few problems beyond occasional irritation in virtually all cases that do not involve other comorbidities or immunocompromised status. HSV is also suppressible through antiviral treatment, making it generally untransmittable (if treated and suppressed) and unlikely to cause symptoms. Most people with HSV do not even bother to do this, which is if anything a testament to how little HSV affects their lives (most don't even know they have it, and there is no clinical justification for routine testing in otherwise healthy patients).
Of all infections pathogens for which I could wish a cure into existence, HSV would be extremely low on my list.
[0] While HCV can cause cancer if left untreated for a long time and if it causes cirrhosis, approximately one third of people clear HCV infection in the acute stages without any lasting ill effect. Of the remainder, it takes a long time for cirrhosis to develop, leaving plenty of time for treatment. First-line treatments are approximately 95-99% effective. So there is no clinical reason HCV needs to increase a person's risk for cancer, as long as they have access to medical care. The same is not true for HBV.
Link between HSV and dementia
For the same reason we should be hoping for a treatment that can rid the body of VZV (chickenpox/shingles) because it is absolutely clear that the shingles vaccine has some protective effect against dementia.
I think this is a bit of an unfair conclusion.
First, while you're correct that most people who have HSV have few symptoms (if any), you're discounting the fact that, because so many people are infected, there are millions upon millions who have highly-visible and highly-painful infections. Many of these people struggle with relationships and mental health as a result.
Second, HSV is associated with higher risk of HIV infection for obvious reasons.
Finally, discovering effective treatments for such a difficult virus would probably produce insights that have implications for other difficult-to-target viruses.
So I don't think we should dismiss HSV on the basis that it's so common and doesn't cause life-threatening symptoms. Medicine should pay adequate attention to infections that affect quality of life for large numbers of people.
Billions are spent on treatments for super rare diseases, many of which are terminal, and in the best cases the end result is often that pharmaceutical companies have drugs costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that extend life by months (often with dubious quality of life).
The first Hep B vaccine in the US is given to all infants within 24 hours of birth (unless the child is already positive for Hep B or severely underweight). And then the second vaccine a month or so later and the third between ages 6 and 18 months old. Hep B vaccination is one of the most common vaccinations received in the US.
And also as a fun little fact the first Hep B vaccine was given exclusively to gay men for a decent while until it was deemed safe enough for the general population. It was also manufactured from the blood of gay men and needle based drug users.
The Hep B vaccine that came later was recombinant and that one was given to everyone from day 1 and that's the vaccine that's been more or less the main Hep B vaccine in use up to today. Recently there's at least one new one that has been approved but the original recombinant Hep B vaccine is still regularly given.
The vaccines are not a prohibited drug and so in most places if you have full blown prescribing rights (e.g. a Doctor or most "Advanced Practitioner" roles) the prescriber can "go off-piste" and just prescribe anything they believe is appropriate. So it's wrong to say it wasn't "allowed".
What you're thinking off are vaccine recommendations which are shots you'll get badgered to do if you don't ask and those didn't include people assigned male at birth in many countries at first because the studies were about Cervical Cancer and obviously most people assigned male at birth do not have a cervix because that's quintessentially female anatomy [Mother Nature doesn't give a fuck, with billions of humans all kinds of weird edge cases arise]. Later studies checked that, as you might now expect, preventing HPV infection also avoids warts and other cancers induced by this virus, and thus impacts humans who don't have a cervix.