Small size, national plans help Europe's H1N1 fight

* Vaccination programmes are slow but calmer in Europe

* Expert says weakness of primary care in U.S. is problem

By Kate Kelland

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Compared to the problems dogging health departments in the United States, Europe's battle to vaccinate the vulnerable against pandemic H1N1 swine flu appears to be going relatively smoothly -- so far.

H1N1 vaccination programmes in Britain and other European countries are off to a slow start, but experts say the infrastructure of their national health systems allows officials to coordinate and manage them better than in the United States.

Dr. Steve Field, president of Britain's Royal College of General Physicians, has just returned from the United States where he described "lines of people waiting for their flu jabs".

"The thing here is that we are a smaller country, and our health system is more homogenous, and primary care is very strong -- that allows us to prioritise people and to call and recall them when we need to," he said in a telephone interview.

In most countries in western Europe swine flu vaccines made by drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), Roche AG (ROG.VX), Sanofi (SASY.PA), Novartis (NOVN.VX) and others are being offered by invitation to those at highest risk of complications.