Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US top infectious disease expert, on Tuesday gave a final briefing to reporters before leaving government at the end of the year, ABC News reported.

Fauci announced in August that he will retire from his job as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and as President Biden’s chief medical adviser in December. He said at the time that he will leave his posts to “pursue the next chapter” of his career.

Introducing Fauci at the podium "one more time" on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the country is "stronger and healthier because of his leadership."

In his remarks, Fauci made a final pitch in a long effort to explain to Americans the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"My message -- and my final message, maybe the final message I give you from this podium -- is that please for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you're eligible to protect yourself, your family and your community," he said.

Asked by ABC News' Karen Travers how he wants people to remember his service in government, Fauci said he'd leave it to others to judge but that he "gave it all I got for decades."

"I think what I've accomplished in my 54 years at the NIH and my 38 years as the director of NIAID, although COVID is really really very important, it is a fragment of the total 40 years that I've been doing it," Fauci said.

"I'll let other people judge the value or not of my accomplishments," he continued, "but what I would like people to remember about what I've done is that every day for all of those years I've given it everything that I have and I've never left anything on the field."

As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci has been a near-constant presence at White House briefings throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fauci advised then-President Donald Trump on the fight against COVID-19, but the two had a contentious relationship.

Trump reportedly at one point considered demoting the top doctor after he criticized his policies.

In October of 2020, Trump was heard criticizing Fauci in a call with campaign staffers, suggesting he was an "idiot" and saying, "He's been here for, like, 500 years.”

More recently, however, Fauci praised Trump after he said during a speaking tour that he had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.