How to add HTML comments to index.html when doing a build in Vue CLI?

Update 1: Fixed syntax issue that caused my initial build errors.

Update 2: Found my own solution using a Webpack plugin. See the accepted solution.

I want to add some custom HTML comments in the public/index.html during a build. I added something like this:

<!--
My Application
Version: <%= VUE_APP_VERSION %>
Build date: <%= VUE_APP_BUILD_DATE %>
-->

In my vue.config.js, I've set VUE_APP_VERSION and VUE_APP_BUILD_DATE accordingly:

let today = new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined, {
  year: 'numeric',
  month: '2-digit',
  day: '2-digit'
})

process.env.VUE_APP_VERSION = require('./package.json').version
process.env.VUE_APP_BUILD_DATE = today

But when I actually build (npm run build), the comments are removed completely and everything is minimized.

How do I preserve my comments?

Found a solution using HtmlWebpackPlugin and WebpackAutoInject plugins in my vue.config.js file; ditching the VUE_APP_* variable use in my index.html as it was causing me build errors.

npm install html-webpack-plugin --save-dev
npm install webpack-auto-inject-version --save-dev

My new vue.config.js:

const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin')
const WebpackAutoInject = require('webpack-auto-inject-version')

module.exports = {
  publicPath: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
    ? process.env.VUE_APP_PUBLIC_PATH_EN
    : '/',

  configureWebpack: {
    plugins: [
      // index.html customization
      new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
        template: 'public/index.html',
        filename: 'index.html',
        inject: true,
        deploy: process.env.VUE_APP_DEPLOY,
        webtrends: '/webtrends/scripts/webtrends.load.js', // include webtrends script for OPS only
        minify: {
          removeComments: false
        }
      }),

      // Auto inject version
      new WebpackAutoInject({
        SILENT: true,
        // options
        components: {
          AutoIncreaseVersion: false,
          InjectAsComment: false
        },
        componentsOptions: {
          InjectByTag: {
            // https://www.npmjs.com/package/dateformat
            dateFormat: 'isoUtcDateTime'
          }
        }
      })
    ]
  }
}

Then in my index.html (with a custom script to include on build):

<!--
My application
Version: [AIV]{version}[/AIV]
Build date: [AIV]{date}[/AIV]
-->
<% if (htmlWebpackPlugin.options.deploy === 'ops') { %>
    <script src="<%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.webtrends %>"></script>
<% } %>