The most banal reason is that groups of researchers generally coordinate to set up little bureaucratic power centers within the national research agencies to en

The most banal reason is that groups of researchers generally coordinate to set up little bureaucratic power centers within the national research agencies to ensure themselves a steady stream of grants; this in turn allows them to get tenure at their universities (under 'publish or perish' which more practically means 'get your grant renewed or perish' and grant renewal relies on (1) a steady stream of publications and (2) ensuring the federal agency keeps earmarking funds for your area of research). This is all perhaps well and good if you're fighting for funds for studying, say, childhood leukemia, but in this case it's been a major disaster and has almost certainly played a central role in this recent global pandemic. Oops.