Each year, countless Americans head to hospitals, drug stores and supermarkets to get their annual flu shot.

But this year, one group here in Grand Junction is skipping out.

We're getting ready to enter the peak of flu season, but it's actually some veterans who are aren't being vaccinated this year.

And the reason they aren't may surprise you.

Eugene Southard has served his country.

"I was a veteran of the Korean war," he said.

And every year, he believes there is something he can do to serve his health.

"I am a firm believer in the flu shots," Southard said.

But this year in Mesa County, the VA Medical Center is finding that not all of Eugene's brother's in arms are following his lead.

"There's something in the flu shot serum that I'm allergic to," William Burke said.

Whatever it is in the shots he is allergic to, the VA says it isn't what he might think.

"We have heard that some of the veterans aren't getting the flu shots because of preservatives, specifically mercury in the vaccine," VA Medical's flu shot coordinator Cindy Dearden said. "But they need to know that we do not carry the vaccine that has any preservatives in it, especially mercury."

In fact, the VA only uses single dose flu shots, so there isn't a need for any preservatives.

"We give it to one person, and that gets thrown away, so we don't have to worry about it," Dearden said.

But the VA still has about 2,000 flu shots on its shelves, a number that is usually much lower.

"(We usually have) less than a thousand definitely, sometimes less than 800, less than 600, and we have run out in the past," Dearden said.

And only two years removed from the swine flu outbreak, one of the most vicious flu strands in recent years, the VA says it has to be the fear of mercury keeping veterans away.

"I really think that that's gotta be the reason why," Dearden said.

But the hospital assures veterans that they'll find no such heavy metals in their vaccines.

As for Eugene, he also has a message for veterans who swear off the shot.

"I tell em buddy, you come down sick, you're gonna be down 2-3 weeks. I get it, I'm down one day, and I'm right back up and going the next."

Eugene has a point. The VA says that older veterans are already at a higher risk for catching the flu than your average person because of age and health problems such as obesity and diabetes.

So if they do catch the flu, symptoms can be much worse.

60 percent of flu seasons peak in January and February.

The Mesa County Health Department still has shots left as well.