After more than fifty years in government, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, briefed reporters from the White House for the last time Tuesday, delivering what he called his "final message" from that podium, urging Americans to get their COVID-19 booster shots. "We know it's safe. we know that it is effective. So my message and my final message, may be 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," Fauci said in a final pitch to the public. Fauci announced earlier this year that he will leave the federal government in December. He is the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and also chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Asked how he'd like Americans to remember his service in government, Fauci said he'll let others "judge the value or not" of his accomplishments.
Anthony Fauci urged Americans to keep up with their COVID-19 vaccinations in his final briefing from the White House on Tuesday, saying he hopes he’s remembered as a dedicated public servant despite GOP criticism of his pandemic-era advice.
“I’ll let other people judge the value or not of my accomplishments,” said Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director who will retire in December after 54 years in the federal government.
“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,” he told reporters at the White House. “So if they want to remember me, whether they judge rightly or wrongly, what I’ve done, I gave it all I got for many decades.”
He said that he’ll “cooperate fully” if Republicans demand that he testify in oversight hearings when they take over the House next year, as they have promised.
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“We can defend and explain and stand by everything that we said,” he said. “So I have nothing to hide.”
Read the rest of his farewell here:
Photos: Dr. Fauci through the years
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, testifies during a hearing on Capitol Hill Iin Washington in this April 4, 2003, file photo. Weeks before President Bush announced a plan in June 2002 to protect African babies from AIDS, top U.S. health officials were warned that research on a key drug was flawed and may have underreported thousands of severe reactions including deaths, government documents show. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a pioneering AIDS researcher and scientific leader, speaks at the 2003 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards ceremony held on Ellis Island, N.J., Thursday, April 10, 2003. He was one of five recipients who can trace their family roots through Ellis Island were chosen for their contributions to the American experience. (AP Photo / Stuart Ramson)
Anthony Fauci, left, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks near Swiss Giuseppe Pantaleo, right, chairman of the AIDS Vaccine 04 conference and professor at Lausanne University Hospital, CHUV, during a press conference after the opening of the AIDS Vaccine 04 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, Aug. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)
Actress Ashley Judd, who is also global ambassador for YouthAIDS, an organization dedicated to educating and protecting young people from HIV/AIDS, talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, prior to giving their testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, center, flanked by Dr. James LeDuc, director, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, left, and Dr. Bruce Gellin, director, National Vaccine Planning Office, Department of Health and Humans Services, testifies on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 30, 2005, before the House Government Reform Committee hearing on "The Next Flu Pandemic: Evaluating U.S. Readiness." (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, before the The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing to examine the government's response to contain the disease and whether America's hospitals and health care workers are adequately prepared for Ebola patients. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Patient Nina Pham is hugged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outside of National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus. The 26-year-old Pham arrived last week at the NIH Clinical Center. She had been flown there from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, testifies before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing looking into the effectiveness of vaccines in the wake of a measles outbreak and the exceptionally severe flu season, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks at the Economic Club of Washington on various topics including the Zika virus, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
From left, CDC Director Tom Frieden, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, and USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health Ariel Pablos-Mendez, take a break on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, from giving their testimony before the House Foreign Affairs, Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee and Western Hemisphere subcommittee joint hearing on: 'The Global Zika Epidemic.' (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH/NIAID, right, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of the CDC, participate in a briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama speaks during a briefing on the ongoing response to the Zika virus with members of his public health team, Friday, July 1, 2016, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Joining Obama are Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Tom Frieden, center, and Director of NIH/NIAID Dr. Anthony Fauci, right. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, works at his desk in his office at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks to reporters before the start of a closed all-senators briefing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives to testify before a House Commerce subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, during a hearing on the budget and coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, takes a phone call outside a room on Capitol Hill where he and others from the president's coronavirus task force briefed members of the House of Representatives on the outbreak of the new respiratory virus sweeping the globe, in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, accompanied by President Donald Trump, speaks about the coronavirus during a news conference in the press briefing room at the White House, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci closes his eyes as he appears before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, speaks with President Donald Trump at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March, 9, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Vice President Mike Pence, and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, listen. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before a House Oversight Committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, center, listens during a news conference about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington, as President Donald Trump and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, walks past President Donald Trump after answering a question during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sits outside the White House, Sunday, April 5, 2020, in Washington. Fauci said Sunday that he hoped the pace of new infections would plateau soon, but that the virus is unlikely to be completely eradicated this year. That means the U.S. could see a resurgence during the next flu season, he said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In this April 9, 2020, file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appears at a news conference about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stands before President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks remotely during a virtual Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool via AP)
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci wears a face mask as he waits to testify before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
Ceremonial first pitch is thrown by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases before the start of the during the first inning of an opening day baseball game between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before a House Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus crisis, Friday, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gestures after receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to receive his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
